The Chatter of a Death-demon from a Tree-top
The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top Blood - blood and torn grass - Had marked the rise of his agony - This lone hunter. The grey-green woods impassive Had watched the threshing of his limbs. A canoe with flashing paddle, A girl with soft searching eyes, A call: 'John!' . . . . . . . . . . . . Come, arise, hunter! Can you not hear? The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top.
The Chatter of a Death-demon from a Tree-top - meaning Summary
Death's Voice in the Woods
The poem stages a brief, eerie scene of a wounded hunter dying in indifferent woods. Physical detail—blood, torn grass, threshing limbs—establishes violent injury, while a distant canoe and a girl calling ’John’ introduce a human, possibly salvific presence. The repeated image of a treetop "death-demon" voice frames death as an external, insistent summons and contrasts nature's impassivity with human vulnerability and loss.
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