"Docile as paper; I comb its hair and love its shining eyes"

• Analysis

  "It lies down in front of me, docile as paper; I comb its hair and love its shining eyes," the narrator personifies the city, making it a passive, controllable object. The city is "docile as paper," symbolizing how the poet recreates her memories of it through her poem, yet she acknowledges that these memories are potentially false, as the paper represents a flattened, simplistic version of reality. The comparison of the city to a doll or pet, which she "combs" and "loves," reflects her desire to care for and preserve her past.
• Analysis - "Shining eyes"


  However, the "shining eyes" are blind, suggesting that her recollections of the city are false projections, not a true representation. This image of the city, like a doll, highlights the loneliness the narrator feels, disconnected from the real people and culture she once knew. The city cannot return her affection, emphasising the permanent separation between her and her homeland, which she can never truly return to.