A Pact ~ Ezra Pound

I make truce with you, Walt Whitman --

I have detested you long enough. 

I come to you as a grown child 

Who has had a pig headed father; 

I am old enough now to make friends. 

It was you that broke the new wood, 

Now it is time for a carving. 

We have one sap and one root-- 

Let there be commerce between us.

~A Pact - Ezra Pound

Contextually, Pound wrote a paper named "What I feel about Walt Whitman" which made apparent his extreme dislike of Whitman several years before writing this poem.

In this poem it seems he is, albeit begrudingly, retracting his former strong opinion of Whitman. Some of his words, such as "...as a grown child," and "...old enough now to make friends." suggest that he has gained maturity since writing his article. Not to mention his  "I come to you as a grown child Who has had a pig headed father" highlights his evolved view of Whitman as a paternal figure, admitting Whitman to be somewhat of a source of inspiration.

"It was you that broke the new wood" implies that Whitman paved a new way for poets such as Pound, however he turns around and backhandedly says "Now it is time for a carving." So he admits to Whitmans' having a role in his own career, but even so implies that Whitmans' work is inferior to his own which refines the art into something that is viewed as much better, such as a block of wood compared to an intricate wood carving.The backhanded compliment conveys the sense that Pounds' negative opinion of Whitman will never truly change. despite his progression from a strong loathing to a less severe dislike.