In the introductory stanza of this poem time is portrayed in a fashion in which a supreme being is giving the most precious gifts of all: Life. In the lines:

mysteriously placed in your waking hand

moments before you open your eyes.”

A symbol is used. The gift, symbolizes life and that someone in supreme power, like a God or Goddess is releasing this power to the world. This gift c

an be taken in one of two ways. First it can be portrayed as the precious gift of a newborn baby being brought into the world and being placed upon your waking hand. Or it could be that the gift of life is what is placed in your hands, and you and only you have the power to live it. In the sense that the poem is stated, I believe that it is a baby that is the gift, and its referring to how the baby is being placed upon its mothers forehead after the birth. Then when the baby opens its eyes for the first time, and at that moment is when the gift of life truly begins. At that moment when you open your eyes for the first time, is when life is put into your own hands. You can choose to live your life anyway your heart desires. This then leads into the second stanza where time and life are portrayed even more.

Some topics in this essay:
God Goddess, Billy Collins, , gift life, days past stacked, days past, past stacked, precious gift, precious gift life, lines “today begins, placed waking hand, impossible tower, masonry ice, tall ladder, thick masonry, life portrayed, slightest clink”, “today begins cold,