Understanding The Poem

STANZA 1

He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise

• The woman is taken up with his 'quiet eyes'. The eyes mesmerise and beg her to 'be nice' to him and make him extremely happy, that is 'render him paradise'.
• The poet uses a very strong imagery of the eyes 'breathing desolate sighs' to enhance the effect of the eyes on the girl.
• The woman, being so enamoured with those eyes, does not notoce he is deceiving her. It would be difficut to see through the man if the woman had her feet on the ground because the eyes have only the 'thinnest ice', easy to break through to learn the man's true nature.
  

STANZA 2

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"

• Something has happened to the woman and she has learnt the truth about the man.
• The poet suggests that she has learnt the hard way, that is she learns her lesson through bad experience.
• She has made a mistake of trusting the man because she has refused to listen to the advice not 'to compromise', that is, lower her standards or expectations in order to please a man who seduces women.
  

STANZA 3

Now here's a bit of advice
Be sure that nice means nice
Then you'll never be losing at dice
Though you may lose your heart once or twice

• The poet extends her friendly advice to women to understand what is meant by 'nice', what it means when men are 'nice' to you.
• When he is 'nice', freindly and pleasant to you, make sure that he is sincere and trustworthy and not because he has ulterior motive, that is he wants something from you in return.
• The poet further comments that love may be a gamble as suggested in 'dice', you take your chances with someone, you may find true love or you may not.
  
• The important issue here is that ultimately you have not lost anything because you have not compromised, you are not deceived.