Metaphors of a Magnifico

　　by Wallace Stevens

　　 Twenty men crossing a bridge，

　　 Into a village，

　　 Are twenty men crossing twenty bridges，

　　 Into twenty villages，

　　 Or one man

　　 Crossing a single bridge into a village.

　　 This is old song

　　 That will not declare itself . . .

　　 Twenty men crossing a bridge，

　　 Into a village，

　　 Are

　　 Twenty men crossing a bridge

　　 Into a village.

　　 That will not declare itself

　　 Yet is certain as meaning . . .

　　 The boots of the men clump

　　 On the boards of the bridge.

　　 The first white wall of the village

　　 Rises through fruit-trees.

　　 Of what was it I was thinking？

　　 So the meaning escapes.

　　 The first white wall of the village . . .

　　 The fruit-trees . . .