The docents praise my elegant design
Above the chatter of the gallery.
Perhaps I am a masterpiece of sorts—
The perfect emblem of futility.
The second stanza of the poem describes the general mood of the poem quite well. The protagonist, the statue, is of superior beauty and elegance, but his marble existence lets him do so little of the things he desires. The poem also hints at the futility of creating something beautiful. War has destroyed the angel by clipping one wing off, robbing it further of its ability to converse with God.
Pity the gods,
no longer divine.
Pity the night
the stars lose their shine.
The final verse of the titular poem of the collection enhances the meaning of the previous stanzas. While the previous were focussed on human beauty and how it is lost in time, this final section goes as far as to talk about gods and stars. While this can be interpreted as a metaphor for the fickle nature of fame, other poems by Gioia show a strong spiritual component. In this sense, the gods and stars can be interpreted as those entities that have lost their followers.
And if I’m wrong, it cannot be by much.
We know our own existence came from touch,
The new soul summoned into life by lust.
The narrator refers to his previous assumption that love and lust are necessary elements to keep the world from destroying itself. This concept that relies on the passion of lovers is then enhanced by a spiritual component. The biblical creation myth (and many other creation myths) is used to substantiate the previous claim. As God had to touch the clay to create life, out of his love for his creation, we have to touch each other to keep the world going. This is definitely one of the most intimate poems written by Dana Gioia.
We had the luck, if you can call it that,
Of having been in love but never lovers—
The bright flame burning, fed by pure desire.
This quote from "The Apple Orchard" describes the burning desire between two people in love who never act on that love. The characters feel what is colloquially called the sweet agony of fresh love. However, the poem ends with the narrator admitting that a love that is not acted on is lost. The location of the apple orchard can be seen as a symbol of new desire. The apple is the fruit of sin in popular interpretations of the creation myth. Furthermore, the poem describes the scene as being filled with the smell of apple blossoms, which happens in spring. The setting is ripe with tension for passion, but the characters do not act on it, creating this bright flame burning from the quote.
