Poem

All That Time:

Who are the two characters in this poem, and what are they each like?
What is the allegory of the poem?
Does this love story have a happy ending? Why or why not?
Why does Swenson begin with a first person speaker?
What is the significance of the title?

All That Time

I saw two trees embracing.

One leaned on the other

as if to throw her down.

But she was the upright one.

Since their twin youth, maybe she

had been pulling him toward her

all that time,
and finally almost uprooted him.

He was the thin, dry, insecure one,

the most wind-warped, you could see.

And where their tops tangled

it looked like he was crying

on her shoulder.

On the other hand, maybe he
had been trying to weaken her,

break her, or at least

make her bend

over backwards for him

just a little bit.

And all that time

she was standing up to him
the best she could.

She was the most stubborn,

the straightest one, that's a fact.

But he had been willing

to change himself--

even if it was for the worse--

all that time.
At the top they looked like one

tree, where they were embracing.

It was plain they'd be

always together.
Too late now to part.

When the wind blew, you could hear

them rubbing on each other.