Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 53-54
Now the two friends climb up,
up to the high balconies.
- Hey, it looks like the third time's a charm. Not only does the friend let the speaker climb up (if indeed he was the one the speaker was addressing in lines 47-50), but he goes along with him. What a guy.
Lines 55-56
Leaving a trail of blood.
Leaving a trail of teardrops.
- Ugh. Just when we were feeling better.
- Apparently this climb to the green girl on her balcony, undertaken at long last, is a costly one. The friends leave behind a trail of blood and tears. Here we learn a little bit about the high price the speaker must pay to attain his desire. And the friend's gotta pay, too? We wonder if he regrets tagging along.
Lines 57-60
Tin bell vines
were trembling on the roofs.
A thousand crystal tambourines
struck at the dawn light.
- So far, most of the sensory imagery in this poem has been visual (green hair, bristling forests, etc.). Here, though, the poem creates an auditory image, a sound-picture that rings in our ear. What does this climb to the high balconies sound like? Well, we imagine it's a lot like this. With the tin bells and crystal tambourines, the world is transformed into bright, delicate chiming to accompany the friends' ascent. It seems like an appropriately dream-like soundtrack to us. What would you play?
- It's also worth noting that the tambourines "struck" at the dawn, which suggests a certain power to this music, as well. And all that blood and tears definitely seem like things of the past.