Du Foin.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

He is driving an old Volvo, about to make a right turn off Province Line Road, when he meets another Volvo, carrying a load of hay on its roof rack. He is not sure if it is hay, lucerne, or alfalfa, but he wants to cut the twine around the bale, that 'hay-accordion' at ten o'clock at night, when there is enough glow from the bales to be sure that when one bursts, all the hay spreads everywhere. 'This much, at least, / I know'. There is something charming in starting and ending with: 'This much I know'. The mark of a skilled poet, not some rhymester.
The poem changes course in meaning, I think, at the end of the second stanza. From driving his Volvo, he wants to cut the twine around the bale of hay, which the other car is carrying on its roof rack.
The reader can interpret the meaning for himself. The poem did remind me of when I did haymaking as a holiday job to support myself when I was a student. Lifting the bales of hay all day onto a truck was hard work.