Snake
DH Lawrence Lyrics

A snake came to my water-trough
DH Lawrence encounters a snake at his water-trough.

On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
It was a hot, sunny day and DH Lawrence was only dressed in his pyjamas.

To drink there.
The snake had come to his water-trough to quench its thirst.

In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree
DH Lawrence stands in the deep shadow of a large, dark carob-tree.

I came down the steps with my pitcher
DH Lawrence came down the steps with a pitcher in his hand.

And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough before me.
DH Lawrence had to wait for the snake to finish drinking.

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough And rested his throat upon the stone bottom, i o And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness, He sipped with his straight mouth, Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body, Silently.
The snake slithers down from a fissure in the wall and drinks water from the trough silently.

Someone was before me at my water-trough, And I, like a second comer, waiting.
DH Lawrence waits for the snake to finish drinking.

He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do, And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do, And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment, And stooped and drank a little more,
The snake drinks and lifts its head occasionally, flicking its tongue in DH Lawrence's direction.

Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.
The snake was colored earth-brown and earth-golden, native to the burning bowels of the earth during the Sicilian July with Etna smoking.

The voice of my education said to me He must be killed, For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.
Even though he has an internal conflict, DH Lawrence's education tells him the golden snake could be venomous and hence must be killed.

And voices in me said, If you were a man You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.
DH Lawrence's internal voices are urging him to act like a man and kill the snake.

But must I confess how I liked him, How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless, Into the burning bowels of this earth?
DH Lawrence enjoys the snake's company and appreciates that it came to his water-trough, drank and then left in a peaceful manner.

Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him? Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him? Was it humility, to feel so honoured? I felt so honoured.
DH Lawrence contemplates his reasons for not killing the snake - whether it's cowardice, perversity or humility - and decides that he felt honored at the snake's presence.

And yet those voices: If you were not afraid, you would kill him!
DH Lawrence's internal voices continue to suggest that if he wasn't afraid, he would kill the snake.

And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more That he should seek my hospitality From out the dark door of the secret earth.
DH Lawrence admits that he was afraid to kill the snake but is still glad that it sought his hospitality.

He drank enough And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken, And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black, Seeming to lick his lips, And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air, And slowly turned his head, And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream, Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.
The snake drinks enough, lifts its head, flickers its tongue and appears like a god, slowly moving away from DH Lawrence.

And as he put his head into that dreadful hole, And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther, A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole, Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after, Overcame me now his back was turned.
DH Lawrence feels a sense of horror at the snake slithering into the hole in the wall.

I looked round, I put down my pitcher, I picked up a clumsy log And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter.
DH Lawrence throws a log at the wall once the snake leaves.

I think it did not hit him, But suddenly that part of him that was left behind convulsed in undignified haste. Writhed like lightning, and was gone Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front, At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.
The log misses the snake and it slithers away hurriedly into the hole.

And immediately I regretted it. I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act! I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.
DH Lawrence immediately regrets his actions and feels that his education has failed him.

And I thought of the albatross And I wished he would come back, my snake.
DH Lawrence thinks about the story of the albatross and wishes the snake would come back.

For he seemed to me again like a king, Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld, Now due to be crowned again.
To DH Lawrence, the snake seems like a king who has been banished to the underworld, but is now ready to rule again.

And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords Of life.
DH Lawrence realizes that he missed an opportunity to interact with one of the lords of life.

And I have something to expiate: A pettiness.
DH Lawrence understands that he has to make amends for his pettiness towards the snake.

Taormina, 1923
DH Lawrence is in Taormina in 1923 when this incident occurs.