Problem

[shaukat mahmood]

Please explain the given lines in simple English.These lines have been taken from Jan Stallworthy's poem "In the street of the fruit stalls"

"The moon compacted to a rind
The sun in a pitted skin"


Regards!

Shaukat Mahmood

[Clare James]

This is beautiful, though not easy in a second language.
Stallworthy is comparing the sun and the moon to fruit.

Looking at the crescent moon, he thinks about the shape of the rind of a lemon, or other fruit.The 'rind' (or more commonly 'peel' )is the part of the lemon you take off before you eat it.)

Looking at the sun, he thinks about the skin of an orange before you peel it. 'Pitted' means with tiny holes or dents in it - so he sees little dots in the orange sun.

Hope this is useful to you.