The Debtor

Mark Powell

The Debtor

I am debtor to all, to all am I bounden,
Fellowman and beast, season and solstice, darkness and light,
And life and death. On the backs of the dead,
See, I am borne, on lost errands led,
By spent harvests nourished. Forgotten prayers
To gods forgotten bring blessings upon me.
Rusted arrow and broken bow, look, they preserve me
Here in this place. The never-won stronghold
That sank in the ground as the years into time,
Slowly with all its men steadfast and watching,
Keeps me safe now. The ancient waters
Cleanse me, revive me. Victor and vanquished
Give me their passion, their peace and the field.
The meadows of Lethe shed twilight around me.
The dead in their silences keep me in memory,
Have me in hold. To all I am bounden.


Edwin Muir

Reading Eliot's "Little Gidding"  in the last post, brought "The Debtor" to mind. Where Eliot says "we are born with the dead", Muir says, "On the backs of the dead, see I am borne." Born and borne. Interesting. (And the word "borne" too, has two sides - carried, or bearing something.) Yes, the dead and their discoveries, their accomplishments, lift us up, elevate our life experience. But we also bear the consequences of their mistakes. It's a mixed bag. The speaker seems encouraged and strengthened by the harvests and prayers of the past, but he is nonetheless "held". That word calls up other words - "captive, "constrained". The way he writes, "The meadows of Lethe shed twilight around me. The dead in their silences keep me in memory.", seems to describe someone under a spell. Are we under a spell? Are we lifted up by those who have gone before, or held down? Or both? Is it a debt or an inheritance? Whichever, the poem feels of a quest, a journey - a battle, "Rusted arrow and broken bow, look, they preserve me..."  That sense of testing and being tried, of being half enchanted and half awake, of voices and people from many places and times speaking to us and lending their strength appeals to me. The (past) dead carry us, the present moment engages us, and the future draws us. Maybe "bounden" also means "committed", or "resolved". Perhaps the speaker has come awake, weighed his situation in life, and turned toward it, taking it up, intending to see it through. To see where the story goes.