Present-Day Outdoors

The present moment of the poem takes place in an unspecified outdoor location near a grassy habitat where snakes live. The speaker observes her brother Cyrus holding a snake the length of his body. Cyrus fully admires this "wild thing" before returning it to its grassy home, which the speaker understands as a hopeful possibility for how men can relate to and care for other natural beings (33). At the end of the poem, Cyrus "bends to be sure the grass closes up behind" the snake (36). This posture communicates humility, care, and down-to-earthness.

Memory

Throughout the poem, the speaker interweaves her memories with the present scene unfolding before her. In her first memory, she recounts how, as children, she and Cyrus once broke open an egg to see what was inside. The impact of unintentionally killing a developing chick resonates with the speaker in the present day as...