The poem’s title raises several questions: Who returns to these trees, and who might the original visitor or visitors have been? Is the journey hypothetical or actual, mental or physical? For Derek Walcott, it’s often both. Many of Walcott’s poems address his personal homecoming to the Caribbean, a kind of continuous and inevitable return. In this poem, the speaker returns to a physical place, but they also return to images used by poets and philosophers for generations. The narrative unfolds on these two levels: one in which the speaker envisions his own aging with wonder and anticipation, and the other, more universal one in which the poet connects with mythic traditions across time. The poet also seeks a language innovative and expansive enough to speak for nature itself as a witness to human effort, though likely a disinterested witness; this nature provides a source of metaphor and example, remaining neither benevolent nor punitive.

“To Return to the Trees” features a speaker with a sweeping understanding of Western historical, literary, and philosophical context. The speaker explores the way Western thought uses nature as a frame or mirror for aging and immortality, ultimately concluding that the vastness of nature outlasts art and thought itself—this conclusion is at the heart of the poem.