Philip Levine’s poem “The Mercy” unfolds as a single thirty-eight-line stanza, principally using five-beat free-verse lines. The poem's title is drawn from the ship that carried Levine's mother to Ellis Island in the 1910s. True to Levine's style, the poem reveals the grandeur of mercy through seemingly insignificant daily events, giving fleeting glimpses of the profound—redemption, joy, and the sublime. In "The Mercy," a narrative elegy, we journey with Levine’s mother, then a nine-year-old, as she moves from one home to another. Her story unfolds aboard the ship "The Mercy," where she encounters a Scottish sailor who gifts her an orange, the first she has ever seen. "The Mercy" explores not just physical travel from Europe to America but also metaphorical transitions—innocence to experience, confusion to clarity, and isolation to belonging.

The Journey and the Orange

Levine’s work delves into the idea of journeys, described metaphorically as a "long autumn voyage." This journey extends beyond his mother's voyage to touch on the complexity of language and cultural transition. As the readers learn, she "prayed in Russian and Yiddish/ to find her family in New York." Despite their communication barriers, the Scottish sailor connects with her, representing a bridge across language and culture. Her prayers, the speaker suggests, might be "unheard or misunderstood or perhaps ignored/ by all the powers that swept the waves of darkness." Yet, the orange becomes more than a fruit—it symbolizes tangible mercy, bridging language gaps and easing the isolation of her journey.

Mercy in a Slice of Orange

The orange she receives takes on a deep symbolic resonance as the poem concludes:

She learns that mercy is something you can eatagain and again while the juice spills overyour chin, you can wipe it away with the backof your hands and you can never get enough.

This realization extends beyond the young girl to the poem's speaker. Immersing himself in the voyage's history, Levine uncovers the hardships his mother faced—challenges that, paradoxically, illuminate the depths of mercy experienced by her, the poet himself, and, ultimately, the reader.

The Discovery of Hardship

As the speaker delves into his imagination, he researches the ship that carried his mother across the Atlantic, a journey that not only transported her to a new land but also granted the speaker a chance at a better life. Through this exploration, he learns of the trials endured by his mother and her fellow travelers:

‘The Mercy,’ I read on the yellowing pages of a bookI located in a windowless room of the libraryon 42nd Street, sat thirty-one daysoffshore in quarantine before the passengersdisembarked. There a story ends.

The account unveils the grim realities of crossing the North Atlantic in late autumn. The passengers, including his mother, weathered not just the physical challenges of the voyage but also the emotional toll of waiting in quarantine for an additional month due to a smallpox outbreak. Yet, in detailing these hardships, the poem underscores the transformative power of mercy—of simple acts of kindness amidst adversity.

Mercy as a Transformative Force

The poem ultimately illustrates a pivotal moment of change. Levine’s narrative, threading through historical and personal layers, suggests that the true measure of mercy lies in its ability to transform lives. As the readers follow the journey of the poet's mother, they glimpse the profound impact of small, gracious acts that can ripple across time and space, illustrating mercy's enduring power and relevance.