Fields of Gold

You'll remember me when the west wind moves,
among the fields of barley.
you can tell the sun in his jealous sky,
when we walked in fields of gold.
So she took her love for to gaze a while,
Among the fields of barley.
In his arms she fell as her hair came down,
Among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me, will you be my love,
Among the fields of barley.
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
when we walked in fields of gold.
I never made promises lightly,
there have been some that I've broken.
but i swear in the days still left,
we'll walk in fields of gold,
we'll walk in fields of gold
Many years have past since those summer days,
among the fields of barley.
See the children run as the sun goes down,
As you lie in fields of gold.
You'll remember me when the west wind moves,
among the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky,
when we walked in fields of gold.
when we walked in fields of gold.

I love this song and I think it makes an excellent poem. The repetition of the image of fields of gold as well as fields of barley is just beautiful. It conjures ideas of the Midwest, lazy summer evenings, and lemonade. Barely is just so earthy and nurturing an image. I personally think that this poem is about two lovers, one of which is dying. I get the sense that it is the man who is dying based on the line in his arms she fell, but it could be either person now that I reread the poem. I also like that the image of fields of gold could be a metaphor for heaven--in this case heaven in here on earth, the physical actual field of barely, and also the spiritual realm of heaven.

I also enjoy the idea of the sun being jealous. Because the sun is the live giver it could be implied that the sun in this poem is representative of a father image, possibly God. Furthermore, the sun is allocated a gender, male. I can't really support it, but I want to say that this poem is about two lovers, one is dying, and this sun character (God, if you will) is jealous of the deep love between the two--and even though they will be parted, they will always have the fields of gold/barley.

I also absolutely love the line "will you stay with me, will you be my love." I think that its beauty rests in its simplicity. I have read some poems that are laden with huge grandiose ideas and words to proclaim love as loudly as possible and I find these simple words more heartfelt then any Shakespearean sonnet or Byron inspired love poem. I really think they get the job done. It is for this reason that I am every time surprised to hear this line in the song--it is clearly stated and obvious--and so often you have to go digging to get to the message of the poem. I think that this poem's meaning can be actually summed up neatly with this one line.