Went to See the Gypsy

The speaker visits a mysterious gypsy in a hotel, leaves, then returns after a dancing girl urges him to. By dawn, both the gypsy and the girl have disappeared. The mood shifts from curiosity to unease and wonder, ending in a quiet, open scene as the sun rises over a small town.

The dark, crowded room and dim lights make the gypsy seem secretive and hard to understand. The girl says he can “bring you through the mirror,” which may suggest helping someone cross into a different way of seeing or experiencing life. “Move you from the rear” is less clear; it could imply shifting someone out of a passive or hidden position. The “river of tears” may stand for sorrow or emotional trouble, though the lyrics do not explain whose tears they are.

The encounter can be read as a real visit, a dreamlike episode, or a symbolic search for change. The girl’s claims give the gypsy almost magical power, but the speaker never tells us what, if anything, he learns from him. His disappearance leaves the promised transformation unresolved. The sunrise offers a sense of ending or renewal, yet the final return to the small Minnesota town also brings the story back to ordinary life.