Song Meaning
The narrator feels an obligation to speak on current, pressing matters, but finds themselves drawn away by the moon. This celestial body offers a more appealing alternative than the 'urgent affairs of all human deeds.' The lyrics suggest a profound detachment from the mundane, a desire to escape the 'human' world and its concerns. The speaker seems to be actively choosing this retreat, finding solace and preference in the natural, cosmic over the social and immediate.
The central tension lies between societal expectation and personal inclination. There's a clear pull away from 'what is relevant today' towards something more timeless and personally resonant. This isn't just a passive distraction; it's an active choice to prioritize a different kind of existence, one that feels more authentic or desirable than engaging with the 'human deeds' that seem to dominate the present.
The most striking craft element is the inversion of 'personify nature' to 'naturalize oneself.' Instead of projecting human qualities onto the natural world, the narrator wishes to embody natural states, becoming 'the light of a lantern' and experiencing 'births of the night.' This suggests a desire for a more elemental, less self-conscious form of being, one that exists outside the realm of human interpretation and societal definition.
This lyrical passage resonates because it articulates a deep-seated yearning for escape from the pressures of modern life and the need to constantly engage with its demands. The narrator's preference for the moon and a 'natural' existence over 'human deeds' speaks to a desire for a simpler, more profound mode of being, one that transcends the ephemeral concerns of the everyday. The aspiration to exist 'not humanly, but naturally' and to be described by a poet like Brodsky points to a search for meaning beyond the immediate and the social, perhaps, superficial.
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