Analysis: W.S Merwin's "To the Soul"

[billy]

To the Soul
By W.S Merwin
___________________

Is anyone there
if so
are you real
either way are you
one or several
if the latter
are you all at once
or do you
take turns not answering

is your answer
the question itself
surviving the asking
without end
whose question is it
how does it begin
where does it come from
how did it ever
find out about you
over the sound
of itself
with nothing but its own
ignorance to go by

________________________
i think the title has more in it that we perceive,
To the soul;
it isn't to my soul. it seems to be to a generic soul. i think when he asks "are you real' he's asking if it's palpable, does it have substance as a separate entity. he's also questioning the soul as a collection, a hive soul where we all maybe share part of each others soul.

he then goes on to question the souls origin, "surviving the asking
without end" has it always been, will it always be? and finally asks why would such thing be interested in us.
how did it ever
find out about you
over the sound
of itself
with nothing but its own
ignorance to go by
and if indeed it was interested, wouldn't it make it less than what it could be or even should be.

i think he's also asking, "did we create our own soul" the way many created a god.

i'm not very good at this so forgive the ineptitude