If I Could Tell You

Michelangelo Pittatore

If I Could Tell You

Time will say nothing but I told you so,

Time only knows the price we have to pay;

If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,

If we should stumble when musicians play,

Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,

Because I love you more than I can say,

If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,

There must be reasons why the leaves decay;

Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,

The vision seriously intends to stay;

If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,

And all the brooks and soldiers run away;

Will Time say nothing but I told you so?

If I could tell you I would let you know.

W.H. Auden

If I could tell you what this poem means...

The questions Auden asks are interesting. What is the price we have to pay - for our words and actions? For what? Is something is required of us for being alive? Why do funny things make us sad sometimes? How do you explain contrary reactions like this? Why does it happen that often when we feel most uplifted and euphoric we trip and make fools of ourselves? Why is there no way to predict the outcome of things? And why do we keep thinking there must be a way, in spite of all proof to the contrary? Where does the wind come from? What is the meaning of all these "natural" cycles and seasons? Why on earth do flowers grow? Do they want to? What is the meaning of it? Why do we keep imagining Utopias? Why do they all fail? What if everything as we know it changed? What would be left? And, - will Time give us the answers to these questions? And is Auden saying that Time will say - "I gave you the answer but you didn't grasp it"?

Wouldn't it be a relief to sit with a friend one day and ask questions? Question for question, back and forth - and at the end (or the beginning - where would it ever end?) look at each other and say, "If I could tell you I would let you know."