[Carl Copeland]

Originally Posted by Rick Mullin

But doesn't the grammatical logic of "hide the ball and find it" serve as an example of how "it" refers to the sky?

You’re right that both the grammar and the parallelism of the phrases point to “sky” as the antecedent of “it,” but logically it’s so improbable that readers will bend over backwards to find something else. I wavered between “grass” and “stalk,” and Glenn also considered the linden row, but the sky never occurred to either of us. How would you understand “I’ll put on my pajamas to wash the dishes and wear them to bed”? “Bury” would help, I think, simply because “bury” and “dig up” are a more natural pair, like “hide” and “find,” but you’d have to stomach the trochaic inversion.

[Rick Mullin]

Thanks Carl,

I realize this is kind of obnoxious, but I like it when readers will bend over backwards to find something else. That's kind of what I mean by ambiguity. I at least want them to recognize that grammatically, the sky is it. I'm digging in, I know..... I appreciate your coming back.

Rick

[Rick Mullin]

Another thing that I should mention, Carl, is that the closely related "dig it out" is a familiar phrase meaning something like "go hard", usually employed by a coach prompting an athlete to run faster or something like that. It can be applied to painting. I first commented here misremembering the line. I may change it from dig it up to dig it out.

I did.