Flâneur — Summary

Dave BontaContemplative

day lay on a hill as I walked here and there in no great haste to go home

looking ought to be a continued thing another supper

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

A man walks around at the end of the day, with no reason to hurry home. The title, "Flâneur," names the kind of walker he is: someone who strolls and watches for the pleasure of it. The first image is a quiet surprise. The day "lay on a hill," as if daylight were a tired animal settling down while the speaker keeps drifting "here and there."

The second stanza turns from walking to looking. The speaker suggests that looking "ought to be / a continued thing," something that doesn't stop when the light fades. The odd phrase "another supper" can be read as a hint that attention is a kind of nourishment, a meal you can come back to again and again. That is an inference, since the poem doesn't spell it out.

The mood is relaxed, unhurried and gently content. Nothing happens, and that is the point. The speaker simply wants to keep noticing the world a little longer.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss