The Skies Can’t Keep Their Secret!
poem 191
The Skies can’t keep their secret! They tell it to the Hills The Hills just tell the Orchards And they the Daffodils! A Bird by chance that goes that way Soft overhears the whole If I should bribe the little Bird Who knows but she would tell? I think I won’t however It’s finer not to know If Summer were an Axiom What sorcery had Snow? So keep your secret Father! I would not if I could, Know what the Sapphire Fellows, do, In your new-fashioned world!
The Skies Can’t Keep Their Secret! - meaning Summary
Secrets of Sky and Season
The speaker observes nature as communal and talkative—skies tell hills, hills tell orchards, and a bird might overhear secrets. Temptation to learn more appears but is resisted; the speaker prefers withholding inquiry to preserve mystery. Questions about whether summer could be an "axiom" and what that would mean for snow underline the poem’s theme: curiosity balanced by reverence. Addressing "Father," the speaker declines knowledge of the creator’s private workings.
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