1. “ His homecomings were the verses We composed over the years making up The siren's song that kept him coming back From the bellies of iron whales And into our nights Like an evening prayer.” “The siren's song that kept him coming back” refers to the siren that would sound every time the submarine rose to the surface again. That is when they would know that their dad or husband would be returning home. -Those sirens also made up the verses to the song they composed for every time they thought about their father.

2. “ His homecomings were the verses We composed over the years making up The siren's song that kept him coming back From the bellies of iron whales And into our nights Like an evening prayer.” SYMBOL: To a child a submarine is a mysterious thing. It looks like a big whale, but everyone knows it's not. So the child speaking in this poem refers to her dad's “transportation” as an iron whale and the he is in the belly! The whale is just a symbol she uses to describe the actual sub.