In John Freeman’s “The Answer,” the speaker describes a deeply worn mental path: the habit of turning back in thought. Forward thinking, he says, leads into a vast desert of the mind where ideas get lost. But going backward brings him to a warm, familiar place—a dancing light where he sees an earlier self, “stiff with delight.” The poem compares this return to bees instinctively finding their way home through tangled thickets. It is not a struggle, but a natural pull toward something safe and joyful. The speaker feels relieved, almost reverent, as he moves from the “brief day” of present life to a “long day” that feels fuller and more lasting. The mood is quiet, nostalgic, and a little trancelike: memory becomes a refuge, and the answer seems to be that the truest home is behind him.
The Answer — Summary
O, my feet have worn a track Deep and old in going back. Thought released turns to its home As bees through tangling thickets come. One way of thought leads to the vast Desert of the mind, and there is lost, But backward leads to a dancing light And myself there, stiff with delight. O, well my thought has trodden a way From this brief day to that long day.