Snake, by D.H. Lawrance

My understanding after reading this poem is that this boy/young man was thirsty because it was hot. Stated in the book line 2, "on a hot, hot day, and I in pajamas for the heat". He grabs his pitcher and heads out to his water trough. I'm guessing he lives on a farm as well because cities have running water and it's probably back in the old days. As he arrives to his water trough he notices a snake at his water trough. He says it’s a yellow brown snake, so that means he’s poisonous. He noticed this snake came from a whole in the ground and just wanted a drink. He observes this snake and lets us know every move the snake makes. He refers the snake as a cow that grazes with their head up after drinking from the trough or as if the cow would take a bight to eat and lift his head up and stare. Then the boy hears voices in his head telling him he should kill the snake. As line 24 states, "For in, Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous." So he now realizes the snake is no fun and games because its poisonous as I said in the beginning. The voices went on in his head, "if you were a man/ you would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off." Then he confesses how he likes the snake. He doesn't want to harm the snake because he thought the snake was peaceful looking and he was amazed of his presence, but yet those voices kept picking at him telling him if he wasn't afraid he would kill the snake.

The snake has drank enough and slowly turns his head and slowly slithers off the trough and starts to go back down the dreadful hole. The boy then gains enough courage to attempt the kill. He puts down his pitcher and picks up this log and tosses it at the snake. The snake scares and like lighting disappears in the hole and never returned.

After he throws the log he then regrets his actions. He wants the snake to come back; he misses the snake’s presence and really feels guilty. He then says how he hates those stupid voices in his head that made him do such mean things. To me that is like us today, the devils voice that we hear in our head making us do bad things. You just have to ask yourself is this the right thing? What is the right thing to do in this situation? Well if it was I in his position the minute I saw the snake it would have been history. So consider the snake lucky.