HE HAD SUCH A QUIET EYE NOTE

He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo

He had such quiet eyes

She did not realise

They were two pools of lies

Layered with thinnest ice

To her, those wuiet eyes

Were breathing desolate sighs

Imploring her to be nice

And to render him paradise

If only she’d been wise

And had listened to the advice

Never to compromise

With pleasure-seeking guys

She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’

Now here’s a bit of advice

Be sure that nice really nice

Then you’ll never be losing at dice

Though you lose your heart once or twice

SYNOPSIS

This poem is about a lady who falls in love with the wrong man. She is fascinated with his eyes that seem to lure her to give him paradise. The man has a pair of quiet eyes that she does not realise they are not that quiet. As she is ‘charmed’ by the eyes, she does not listen to the advice given by other people who are concerned with her behaviour. In the end, she realises her mistakes and is broken hearted.

THEME

• Betrayal of love
• Personal experiences
• Relationships that are meaningful

MORAL VALUES

• Don’t be naive and believe everything we are told especially in matters of the heart.
• Be wise when choosing friends.
• Falling in love is normal but one should be careful.
• We must learn from the experience of other people.
• We should be very careful not to give in our principle in order to please other people.

TONE, MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Refelective
• Sad and happy
• Sympathetic

POINT OF VIEW

• Second and third person points of view

LANGUAGE & STYLE

• Simple and easy to understand
• Simple style with rhyming scheme

MEANING OF WORDS

• sighs – long, deep audible breaths
• eyes – a pair of organs of sight
• advice – guidance
• desolate – unhappy and uninhabited
• pleasure-seeking – looking for a feeling of happy satisfaction
• dice – a small cube with each side having a different number ranging from 1 to 6
• layered – arranged in layers
• lies – intentional false statements
• realise – become aware
• compromise – agree
• paradise – heaven
• render – provide or give help
• imploring – begging desperately
• wise – having knowledge and good judgement