In the poem, many quotes are being presented for example ....
"they sat down together on the grass
without looking at each other
and ate oranges
without looking at each other
and put the peels
in a basket which they seemed
to have brought for that purpose
without looking at each other "
Lines like these shouldn't be misunderstood, if a marriage was going downhill or was in critical condition, a couple wouldn't be in the park doing activities that helped others, in this case the wife was feeding birds and the husband was sharing his snack with his wife. In a case like this, the couple was just enjoying their own companies with on another, they walked down the park, maybe like they always do every saturday, they ate together and laid down next to each other. All of these are characteristics of what an elder couple would do. That first love they had almost 30 or 40 years ago, (estimating) is not there, but what they have now is a diffrent kind of love for each other. Its a love that married couples feel after a long marriage. They don't look at each other or say one word to each other but they know they are there. The poem doesn't have one dialogue, they dont speak to each other at all but they do like each others companionship i believe because if they didnt i would think that this poem would have taken place back in their own house where privacy is being honored and they can act the way they want to. So in a poem like this there is no depression, i feel that in the end when it says with a awful look of terrbible depression, i think the author may have been trying to be funny here when the wife realized the husband took his shirt off. Its a beautiful poem about love and how love can change over time.
