O Milky Way, sister in whiteness
To Canaan’s rivers and the bright
Bodies of lovers drowned,
Can we follow toilsomely
Your path to other nebulae?

The speaker addresses the Milky Way as a luminous “sister,” linking its whiteness to two very different images: the biblical promise of Canaan’s rivers and the pale bodies of drowned lovers. The juxtaposition fuses sacred aspiration with erotic tragedy, suggesting that human longing—spiritual and sensual—seeks transcendence but is shadowed by loss. The final question (“Can we follow toilsomely / Your path to other nebulae?”) turns the galaxy into a guide or road, implying a desire to escape earthly limits by pursuing a difficult, perhaps impossible, cosmic journey. The tone is both awed and doubtful: the heavens beckon, but the route is arduous and uncertain.