Sitting place — Summary

Dave BontaContemplative

fields receive me though I understand

only a piece of the world a well an idle heart

but I have been alone here at the present infinite spot

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.

The speaker sits in a field and feels welcomed by it. The land "receives" them, almost like a host, yet the speaker admits they understand only a small part of the world. That part is boiled down to a few quiet images: "a well an idle heart." With no punctuation, the well and the idle heart sit side by side, as if they were the same thing, something deep that is waiting to be used or filled.

The last lines turn toward solitude. The speaker has been alone "here at the present / infinite spot," and the phrase squeezes something huge into something small. A single place, right now, becomes endless. The mood is calm, humble and a little wistful. There is no drama, only stillness and the sense that not understanding much is fine when you are paying close attention to where you are. Loneliness here feels less like a lack and more like room to breathe.

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