I Can Wade Grief

This poem is about coping with grief. The author speaks of having to deal with grief in her first line, "I wade grief, whole pools of it" The author is stating that she can make it through any period of grief or any inordinate amount of suffering and bleak moments. She can wade through any amount of these through force of will and powers of endurance. Then she says that when having difficulty of dealing with wading through all the grief she is able to "rise" above the pools of grief using joy as a new form of alcohol in the line "But the least push of joy, breaks up my feet, and I tip-drunken. Let no pebble smile, 'Twas the new liquor,- That was all!" She says that she can use joy and happiness to wade of the pools of sorrow and grief in her life through use of joy and happiness in her life. She claims in the first line in the next stanza that "Power is only pain" explaining that through gaining power and using power, the quest for power in itself, will only lead to despair and end with pain and suffering for those involved. The rest of the poem is the attempt to explain that relying on freidsn and family is like using a giant to help you with work and struggles in your life. The entire poem is a testament to the strength of humanity and the power of the human mind and it's ability to overcome struggle and adversity with support from their friends and all the good moments in life. The entire poem is a story of human's being able to go through their entire lives suffering from adversity and struggle and being able to get through the misery of life through the happy moments and using their friends and family as support to their difficulties in life. These are the meanings behind this poem and what not.