Ambulances

Closed like confessionals, they thread
Loud noons of cities, giving back
None of the glances they absorb.
Light glossy grey, arms on a plaque,
They come to rest at any kerb:
All streets in time are visited.

Then children strewn on steps or road,
Or women coming from the shops
Past smells of different dinners, see
A wild white face that overtops
Red stretcher-blankets momently
As it is carried in and stowed,

And sense the solving emptiness
That lies just under all we do,
And for a second get it whole,
So permanent and blank and true.
The fastened doors recede. Poor soul,
They whisper at their own distress;

For borne away in deadened air
May go the sudden shut of loss
Round something nearly at an end,
And what cohered in it across
The years, the unique random blend
Of families and fashions, there

At last begin to loosen. Far
From the exchange of love to lie
Unreachable insided a room
The traffic parts to let go by
Brings closer what is left to come,
And dulls to distance all we are.

The symbol of the ambulance at once implies death. They are like ‘closed confessionals’. Sitting in the ambulance. In both the ambulance and the confessional. When apprehended as a symbol of death, it is indeed ‘closed’ as Death possesses no openings. The ‘silence’ of death is juxtaposed against the ‘loud noon’s of the cities.’ The noon is glaring and so are the glances that the ambulance receives. However, it does not return any of these stares as it is totally apathetic to the practicalities of life.

The phrase “Light glossy grey” though it refers to the colours of the ambulance, they may also allude to the various stages in life. It reiterates how individuals in all walks of life are vulnerable to the universal phenomenon, and: “All streets in time are visited.” The ambulance may come to rest on any kerb; any person may be the victim regardless of criteria. It may be children strewn on steps or road, or ladies coming from shops. People consume ‘dinner’ or food as a basic prerequisite to life; Death is relevant here and is a constant theme throughout the poem. Bodies are carried away only to be ‘stowed’ away like the blankets. The colour ‘red’ signifying blood and the ‘white’ face add to the gloomy atmosphere of the poem.

The ‘solving emptiness’ stresses the existential dilemma of man. His doings and achievements are reduced to nihilism in the confrontation with death. People reaffirm the truth for a second as it dawns on them with its omnipotent force.

“So permanent and blank and true.” As the doors of the ambulance unfasten, people exclaim in sympathy. However, this sympathy is more than empathy; it is directed at themselves, who may perhaps be the next victims.

In the fourth stanza, the poet shifts the scene to the interior of the ambulance. The patient senses the sudden “shut of loss,” the fear that death is around the corner. One wonders when Death is portrayed as a universal phenomenon; he projects the victims of death in this poem predominantly as women. Perhaps his misogynistic views attribute to this aspect. The last defining moment of the poem, also has the woman apprehending the unavoidable fear. Individual tastes and differences no longer matter. The poet is slightly satiric here. In his “Whitsun Weddings” also, he projects women as “parodies of fashion.” The victim is far from the ‘exchange of love’, distanced from the give and take of love. The ‘traffic parts’ are side-stepped: all the directions and guidance’s received in life are of no consequence on the edge of Death.