Softly breathing, cries from the bedroom, and soft tears falling are all feelings that can be felt by humans around the world. The poem by Billy Collins, entitled Days illustrates the same of feelings. In the poem's entirety, life is not the only thing being portrayed, but instead it contrasts the beauty of life, with the short, but sweet, amount of time that is given for all humans. The poem addresses how our lives are drastically changed both emotionally and physically, by the loss of something or someone so close to our heart. Throughout this essay, life, time, and the missing ingredients to live a happy, fulfilled life will be discussed thoroughly. Along with how sometimes the things we take for granite are the ones that really mean the most to us when they are gone. .
In the introductory stanza of this poem time is portrayed in a fashion in which a supreme being is giving the most precious gifts of all: Life. In the lines:.
"Each one is a gift, no doubt, .
mysteriously placed in your waking hand .
or set upon your forehead .
moments before you open your eyes.".
A symbol is used. The gift, symbolizes life and that someone in supreme power, like a God or Goddess is releasing this power to the world. This gift can be taken in one of two ways. First it can be portrayed as the precious gift of a newborn baby being brought into the world and being placed upon your waking hand. Or it could be that the gift of life is what is placed in your hands, and you and only you have the power to live it. In the sense that the poem is stated, I believe that it is a baby that is the gift, and its referring to how the baby is being placed upon its mothers forehead after the birth. Then when the baby opens its eyes for the first time, and at that moment is when the gift of life truly begins. At that moment when you open your eyes for the first time, is when life is put into your own hands. You can choose to live your life anyway your heart desires.