i
- Ma Kilman bathes Philoctete in a new concoction made from the secret plant she found in the woods with the help of the gods.
- He is symbolically bathed in a cauldron from the old sugar mill on the island, and as Ma bathes him, she scolds him like a mother. He feels the wound drain at last.
- The narrator wonders if the process cured anything else.
ii
- Now that Philoctete is healed, the narrator alludes to the redemption of the Greek hero Philoctetes ("The bow leapt back to the palm of the warrior...").
- Part of the healing Philoctete undergoes involves being mystically relieved of his "wrong name" (remember: earlier he talks about "his name that felt like a fever" (IV.i)).
- He experiences psychological healing and emerges from the bath like Adam into Eden on the first day.
iii
- Just as Philoctete receives healing, so does the narrator—he feels "wrong love leaving," and as he does, his burning for his lost woman is quenched at last.
- He feels elated by the healing process, and comforted by the Caribbean.
- The verse turns from his bad love to pregnant Helen, who is trying not to suffocate in the heat.