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b_b  ·  3938 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: "in thy beauty is the dilemma of flutes" (e. e. cummings - "My Love" )

    He's saying, I think, that she's brain dead.

For whatever reason this website is blocked at work, so I can't read the context, but I don't read it that way. I think he is pointing out that she perhaps doesn't use the gifts that she has. A forest filled with sleeping birds sounds more dormant than dead. Birds are mysterious and beautiful creatures that display complex behavior individually and collectively, and also make beautiful music. When they sleep, they still possess these qualities, but they aren't using them at the moment.

The casket line I can't really make heads or tails of, however, so maybe you're correct.