Twenty men crossing a bridge,
Into a village,
Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges,
Into twenty villages,
Or one man
Crossing a single bridge into a village.
This is old song
That will not declare itself . . .
Twenty men crossing a bridge,
Into a village,
Are
Twenty men crossing a bridge
Into a village.
That will not declare itself
Yet is certain as meaning . . .
The boots of the men clump
On the boards of the bridge.
The first white wall of the village
Rises through fruit-trees.
Of what was it I was thinking?
So the meaning escapes.
The first white wall of the village . . .
The fruit-trees . . .
-Wallace Stevens
Poem of the Month 
I like the way the idea of the men crossing the bridge loops round, is ambiguous – man or men, bridge or bridges, single event or multi-event. Smart vision.
M
__________
Marie Marshall
writer/poet/editor/blogger
Scotland
http://mairibheag.com
http://kvennarad.wordpress.com
I agree, Marie. I came across the poem mentioned in a book on the human shadow by Robert Bly.
And great to have a reader from Scotland!
Cheers.