A Great Need

By using the guise of the 14th-century Persian poet Hafez, Ladinsky implies that the human need for connection has not changed in centuries and never will. Since Ladinsky credits the poem to an older writer, readers might believe that even people from another era similarly value relationships.

Ladinsky further implies the connection between past and present through the “We” (Line 3). The speaker uses the “We” to reveal who exactly has “a great need” (Line 2) in the second and third lines. Because it gives no identifying details about the “We,” the poem gives the reader the ability to imagine themselves in the “We.” Ladinsky also makes the reader feel like a participant in the poem by employing direct, non-descriptive language. The reader does not need to know precisely why the terrain is dangerous or what it looks like as they climb because they implicitly accompany the speaker on the journey.

The command “Listen” (Line 6) reinforces a didactic tone and the sense that the reader is a participant within the poem. The command clarifies the poem: It is not an internal monologue to which the reader is privy; rather, it is an address to the reader as part of a group. In this context, “Out / Of a great need / We are all holding hands” (Lines 1-3) becomes the speaker’s reminder to the reader about their situation.

The speaker then warns against “letting go” (Line 5). Since he links “holding hands” with “climbing in the previous two lines, Ladinsky implies that “letting go” might impede others’ ability to climb. The speaker explains that they cannot risk losing the connection since “The terrain around here / Is / Far too / Dangerous / For / That” (Lines 7-12). In the speaker’s eyes, the willingness to stay together protects them and allows them to move along the path.