If I Could Tell You

The poem opens with the speaker declaring that “Time” (Line 1) will never reveal anything to anyone in particular—it will only say, “I told you so” (Line 1). The speaker suggests that this lack of revelation is because Time itself does not contain any inherent wisdom or insight, as it “only knows the price we have to pay” (Line 2) and nothing more. The speaker then finishes the first stanza by assuring their beloved, “If I could tell you I would let you know” (Line 3, emphasis added), implying that the speaker does not have any insights or special wisdom about life either, but that if they did, they would be willing to share that knowledge with their loved one. The three lines of the opening stanza contain the refrains that will appear at various other points of the poem, creating the repetition that is so important to the villanelle form the poem follows (See: Literary Devices). The stanza also contains the only two rhyme-sounds that will appear throughout the poem.

In the second stanza, the poem’s speaker suggests that the outcome in life will be similar whether things go according to plan or not. They use the examples of a circus and of a dance to make this point, speculating, “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” (Lines 4-6). In both of these examples, the speaker describes situations in which the opposite of what is intended takes place. In the first example, he describes how instead of laughing at the clowns in the circus, people could “weep” at the “show” (Line 4), responding to the circus acts with sadness instead of amusement. Likewise, in the following line, he describes people “stumbl[ing]” (Line 5) instead of dancing “when musicians play” (Line 5), creating an image of disharmony and missteps instead of coordinated movement. The speaker’s return to one of the poem’s refrains in the concluding line of the stanza—“Time will say nothing but I told you so” (Line 6)—reinforces the sense that, even if things do go wrong in life, there will not necessarily be any revelation of a deeper meaning or purpose behind mistakes or bad experiences.

In the third stanza, the speaker reflects upon the impossibility of predicting what will happen in the future, thereby insinuating that foresight is, like meaning, also an empty illusion: “There are no fortunes to be told” (Line 7). The speaker’s imagery of fortune-telling alludes to human activities that try to divine what will happen, with the speaker suggesting that these activities are always futile. The speaker then introduces the idea of the importance of human connection before returning to the refrain that they would gladly share the knowledge about the future, if only they had it to give to their beloved. The speaker assures their beloved that they “love [him/her] more than [they] can say” (Line 8), which is why they would tell their beloved all the secrets of what is to come “If [they] could” (Line 9).

In the poem’s fourth stanza, the speaker speculates as to whether there is some sort of overarching order in the world. He uses natural imagery, wondering, “The winds must come from somewhere when they blow, / There must be reasons why the leaves decay” (Lines 10-11). The speaker’s use of the word must in both examples, with the reasoning that the “winds must come from somewhere” (Line 10, emphasis added) and that “There must be reasons why the leaves decay” (Line 11, emphasis added) implies that the speaker is still eager to discover patterns or logic in the world, however impossible this might be. The use of natural imagery is significant, as nature tends to operate according to predictable cycles, and there are usually scientific explanations for natural phenomena. However, the speaker’s curiosity is more philosophical than scientific—they are more concerned with why the world is the way it is, what the “reasons” (Line 11) behind the cycles of nature and life are, than how natural phenomena function technically. The speaker then once again admits that the passage of time will not unveil these mysteries: “Time will say nothing but I told you so” (Line 12).

In the fifth stanza, the speaker continues to reflect on intentionality. However, in this stanza, the speaker shifts from speculating about a potentially logical, overarching natural order to the intentions of more specific, individualized phenomena. The speaker wonders if “Perhaps the roses really want to grow” (Line 13), or if “The vision seriously intends to stay” (Line 14). In these lines, the speaker entertains the idea of intentionality and will, with the “roses” potentially “want[ing]” (Line 13, emphasis added) to grow instead of just being the passive recipients of nature’s law, suggesting that living things might wish to assert their own agency if they can. In the speaker’s speculations about the “vision [that] seriously intends to stay” (Line 14, emphasis added), the speaker suggests that visions, or dreams and thoughts, perhaps also contain a degree of will, as it is possible that a vision “intends to stay” (Line 14) in spite of the fact that visions are usually transient. In playing with imagery of both a natural phenomenon (the roses) and something more abstract (the vision), the speaker suggests that there is perhaps a longing for agency and will in all aspects of life, even though this agency is never fully realized. In ending the stanza with the refrain about their own ignorance—"If I could tell you I would let you know” (Line 15)—the speaker emphasizes that agency is just another impossibility, as the speaker wishes that they could have and share knowledge, but they cannot gain any despite their intentions.

The poem’s final stanza is made up of four lines (a quatrain) instead of containing three lines (a tercet) like all the previous stanzas, which is once again in keeping with the villanelle form (See: Literary Devices). The stanza’s first three lines form a rhetorical question: “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?” (Lines 16-18). The imagery of the lions in Line 16 mirrors the circus imagery of the “clowns put[ting] on their show” (Line 4) earlier in the poem, and once again shows the speaker toying with the idea of will and agency, with the lions refusing to perform or remain docile. In Line 17, the imagery of the “brooks and soldiers run[ning] away” is also suggestive of agency and a refusal to submit to either natural or man-made orders: The “brooks” (Line 17) or water streams refuse to follow nature’s intended trajectory for them, and the “soldiers” choose to desert instead of follow orders to fight. This imagery leads to the speaker turning a former refrain into a question: “Will Time say nothing but I told you so?” (Line 18). In posing this open-ended question, the speaker raises the possibility of imbuing life with meaning through the exercise of agency, as perhaps Time might or might not “say nothing but I told you so” (Line 18) under such circumstances. However, the speaker leaves the question unanswered, once again acknowledging their own ignorance: “If I could tell you I would let you know” (Line 19). For all their reflections and speculations, the speaker is, at the poem’s close, as helpless and as lacking in concrete knowledge as they were when the poem began.