One of My Most Favorite Lines in a Poem and Why

"Time will say nothing but I told you so."  I can't stop thinking about that line in Auden's poem "If I could tell you."  This work surprised me in that it evoked an emotion.  It forced me to reread it because I had never thought of time being personified in the way Auden did it.  Here is the poem for your dining pleasure:

Time will say nothing but I told you so
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.

I would not believe it if someone told me that didn't make them stop and think.  The web page that I found this poem on had six pages devoted to people's reactions to reading it and you guessed it they all had nothing but positive remarks.  The strangest part was in my research on the poem I found that it was almost named "But I can't," a possible way to complete the actual title, "If I could tell you."

Overall I was very sad that I had to explicate this poem because like with anything else (jokes specifically) deconstruction is a fun sucker (sorry Jacques Derrida).  That's why in my annotation sheet on "If I Could Tell You" my useful critical approach was reader response.  The many comments on the work helped me to understand what others saw in it, thereby helping me pick out the important points.  Thankfully key lines wasn't an issue.  In retrospect before I began contemplating the line "Time will say nothing but I told you so," there were very few lines in poetry that really made me want to think on them about what they really meant.  I applaud Auden for personifying Time and making something similar to song lyrics based around it (nearly a conceit!).  He picked a metaphysical topic and kept my attention longer than the metaphysical poets could.

I can't wait to write about the merit of "If I Could Tell You" in my paper on W.H. Auden.