Confused... — Summary

KiBLSContemplative

What comes when something else goes?

What's going on if something else is coming?

What passed when something new happens?

What happens when something new passed?

What ends when a target changes?

Will it change the end when the target ends?

Is a destination that has changed the end?

Is the end of a path to the target? Is the target a reason for the way? Is the way a reason for living? Is life a reason for an end?

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The poem is built almost entirely from questions, and none of them gets an answer. It begins with simple pairs of opposites, like coming and going, or something new happening and something passing, then flips the wording back and forth until the meaning slips. That is the "confusion" of the subtitle: the speaker is turning the same few words over and finding they no longer sit still.

Then the questions grow more serious. Words like "target," "end," "path" and "way" start to link up in a chain. Does the end matter if the target changes? Is the target the reason for the way? Is the way a reason for living? The last line closes the loop with "Is life a reason for an end?", which turns the whole chain back on itself.

The mood is uneasy and searching, a bit dizzy. The speaker seems to be looking for purpose and finding only more questions. Judging by the repetition, the poem suggests that "end" can mean both a goal and a finish, and that doubt is hard to separate from the question of why we live at all.

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