The fence

Lenrie Peters

THE FENCE

There where the dim past and future mingle

their nebulous hopes and aspirations

there I lie.

There where truth and untruth struggle

in endless and bloody combat,

there I lie.

There where time moves forwards and backwards

with not one moment's pause for sighing,

there I lie.

There where the body ages relentlessly

and only the feeble mind can wander back

there I lie in open-souled amazement

There where all the opposites arrive

to plague the inner senses, but do not fuse,

I hold my head; and then contrive

to stop the constant motion.

my head goes round and round,

but I have not been drinking;

I feel the buoyant waves; I stagger

It seems the world has changed her garment.

but it is I who have not crossed the fence,

So there I lie.

There where the need for good

and "the doing good" conflict,

there I lie.

REVIEW

In the whole length of the poem, Peters describes conflicting scenes
or instances and his indecision on them all. In fact, the title of the
poem alludes to the English expression 'Sitting on the fence' which
most surely supplied the inspiration.
In the first verse, he talks about 'the dim past and future' and makes
it apparent that he lies at the mingling point of their 'hopes and
aspirations'. He uses two words that make emphasize a general sense of
uncertainty – 'dim' and 'nebulous'. He ends the stanza with a crisp
'there I lie'. He has plunged himself in the middle of the confusion.
In the next stanza, he lies at the place where 'truth and untruth
struggle'. He uses the word 'untruth' because it would create an
unintended pun if he says 'truth and lie'. But for us the readers, we
can extrapolate this idea to affect the last line of the stanza where
he says 'there I lie'. The pun is created without intention. He lies.
What exactly does that mean? He is telling a lie or he is lying down
at a point? The antagonism between truth and untruth here is referred
to as a 'combat', both 'bloody' and 'endless'. He may have made the
right choice to abstain.
The next stanza draws a parallel between time moving forward and
backwards with no stop. I have little idea what he means by time
moving backwards but he may have used this to highlight the greater
conflict that makes him decide to stay on The Fence. Time moves back,
time moves forward. What can he do than stay aloof?
Now he personalizes the conflict and claims that it is like the body
aging 'relentlessly' and only the 'feeble mind' can bring back
memories of youth. His soul meanwhile is amazed.
In the fifth stanza, Peters tells us that he stands in a point where
all the opposites meet. In that meeting, they confuse him and plague
his inner senses. He cannot make a decision and his irresolution eats
him up. He tries to control his spinning head, to find some sort of
reason in the midst of all the confusion. He tells us 'I have not been
drinking' but he goes on right afterwards to use words that churn up
the thought of a drunk man – 'I feel the buoyant waves; I stagger'.
His supposed drunkenness should be coming from his many worries! He is
drunk on his troubles. A look at the larger structure of the poem,
written in a centered format, should give a picture of his confusion.
The writing style mirrors the state of his mind as the sentences come
and go.
The stanza that unlocks the meaning behind this poem is the sixth.
Peters reveals that everything around him has changed. The world as he
knew it is no more. 'The world has changed her garment' is his claim.
But he tells us that it he who has not crossed the fence. The
indecision comes from a conflict between his past and his present. The
world as he knew it and the world as it is now. This conflict affects
a lot of people today in its most nuanced form. Most vivid is the
difference in a family where parents were born and raised in a
far-away village and now are raising their children in a cyber-world.
The conflict may be pronounced for a man who knows not how to use
these gadgets and stares blankly as he is confronted with them. This
may not be the best picture but it is a mirror enough of the kind of
conflict that Peters draws our attention to. 'So there I lie', he
concludes.
After explaining his conflict to us, Peters goes back in the last
stanza to his complaining ways. I like to think that final stanzas
should bring out more intensely what the poet is saying – the
denouement. So in the middle of this stanza, Peters enlightens us. His
whole misunderstanding with the world comes from the world's noble
intents for all things 'good' and the actual 'doing good'. Many people
know what is right, talk about what is right and advocate for what is
right but never actually do what is right themselves. The need for
good and the actual doing good! There he lies.
The poem is a brilliant piece. I wouldn't call it melancholic or
protestant. It reflects more of a mental junction than about anything
to worry about. Strangely, I find it a bit humorous. A masterpiece it
is.

Source: mollusco.wordpress.com