The Malham Bird

The Malham bird of Eden, is a Jewish tale, that is obeyed the commandment not to eat of the forbidden fruit and so lives forever in paradise- meaning that it cannot experience the true values to life and what it has to offer, for example, emotions, children, marriage, friends.
In the first stanza Abse is explaining how his new start to their marriage as a start in the "reinvented" world, suggesting paradise has been bestowed upon the pair in their new life. He compares himself as a "jew" and his wife as a "gentile" who is not a jew.
He starts off the second stanza as "Dear wife" which shows how much he cares by writing to her and showing her how he remembers all the tiny details about their first holiday. The tiniest details such as "the hidden beach" .. "the same seagull that seemed portent" all show that the smallest details have been remembered, which means its a significant memory that he treasures dearly.
The 3rd stanza shows how one minute they're lying together and the metaphor of the "chalk lines kiss" shows the end of their paradise and how it slowly "disappears". This shows how things can change quickly, they're there one minute and then gone the next.
The persona then goes onto reflecting upon the tale of the Malham Bird, and how that the singing" shows that almost the birds are happy with the choice of disobeying the commandment, it is a metaphor of the fact that everyone will make different decisions. The bird here sybolises the fact that it is all about making the right choice : This bird that they have met has followed the rules yet they talk about "all of the birds" singing and making the right choice. The idea of paradise, Abse has tied in with the idea of "immortal" that it can live on forever in the "gardens of Paradise". The motif of death, used somewhat like Larkin, but used with a positive connotation on the fact that there is something to believe in, some form of happiness after death.