Farmhand
The title of the poem ‘Farmhand’ indicates that it is subjected towards a peasant, a tiller of soil.
From the starting paragraph we are given a description of a peasant who seems to have a very carefree demeanor. It starts with ‘you will see him’ which gives a direct reference to the audience. In the eyes of the people around him, he seems to be at his ease, very calm and collected. He tries his utmost to diffuse attention towards himself by poising himself ‘at the hall door careless’. He even indulges in company and jokes around normally. Until now we get the impression of an easy going man who is having a good time but the next phrase puts a serious doubt in our mind. ‘Looking out into the secret night’ gives evidence that his countenance was a fake one; he was putting up a false pretense as there were more pressing thoughts boggling his mind. There’s something which is haunting, something which is compelling him to look at the ‘secret night’ where all the lovers would be. Even though we see him ‘lighting a cigarette’, he isn’t as light hearted as he’s trying to show, he gets distracted into his thoughts of the night from time to time.
We are given more hints towards his peculiar, mysterious behavior. It was the dance floor which caught his eyes and after which it made him stayed glued to it. The ‘girls drifting like flowers’ give the realization that the man is looking at them with awe, they seem to me enchanting to him like fairies that he is unable to catch. Their every move is noticed by him, they seem to be moving effortlessly. The intense beauty that was propagating from them made him yearn for them even more. As the music ‘tears’, similarly the ‘old wounds’ tears open inside him too. There’s a mysterious air around him, something haunts him as he cast his eyes on the girls. He knows he can never get them and that is probably because of his past experience which turned out to be tragic, or maybe has had heartache before. There’s regret in his...