The other repetition in the poem is the anaphora of “take”, whether “takes care”, “takes over”, “taking over”, etc. This lead me to recognizing the significance of sounds in the poem, which was another aspect I looked at closely (illustration 6).
“Take” or a variation of that word is used six times. Eleven other words or homophones are repeated as well. Noticing this helped me recognize the most important thing, I believe, about the poem. With all of the repetition, along with the short, soft vowel sound, made me write the following on the “Sound” page: “image, sound, idea, meditation”. I believe that the function of this poem is the key to understanding it. I think of it as a meditation on the ending of things. The mystery of what it is that “takes over” and “takes care”, I have come to think of as the ripening of life.