You pros have prolly covered this before but Im new to the show so I get a free pass.

 Anyways, the poem that Mike recites and that comes up in the show from time to time, is there a unified theory or "explanation" of its meaning?  If you go line by line:

"Through the darkness of futures passed" - This is the line I dont quite have a take on. The darkness part is likely referring to the overall "dark" nature of the Black Lodge clientel but what is "futures past" referring to?

"The Magician longs to see" - Im gonna say that this is simply what BOB or other evil spirits "wish" to happen.  They "long" to see suffering and anguish. The "Magician" , I assume is the evil spirits or maybe BOB in this context.???

"One chants out between two worlds" - This is also a little perplexing to me. Is this in reference to a "good" world and a "bad" world?  Does it refer to different planes of reality?  Is the chanting part referring to an evil spirit "requesting" the soul of an innocent person or "asking" that person to allow the spirit in?   IMO, this might just be the evil trying to "bridge" over to the good side and take over.  The word "worlds" may not have explicit meaning.... I dunno??

"Fire, Walk with me" - Im going to assume that the word "fire" refers to Leland talking about "playing with fire" as a boy being tempted by BOB. The "walk with me" part might just mean "come along with me on my journey of terror and destruction".  Or, does "fire" refer to the person being inhabited???

Damn, even a 4-line poem has me racking my brain!  Damned Lynch!

Hmmm.... good stuff here.  I like your comments.  I never thought of the "chants" or "chance" issue.  Damn, yet another thing to ponder.  

One chants out between two worlds - In order to leave the black lodge , A dugpa must chant "fire walk with me" multiple times to cause a rift between the two worlds to enter ours.

You don't actually see this in the show but that's what that part of the poem means - The word is most definately chants, not chance. There is more than one chance out of the black lodge, after all.

In David Lynch's Images book, the poem is printed exactly this way:

Thru the darkness
of Future Past
the magician longs to see
one chants out
between two worlds
Fire -- walk with me.

There's subtitles that contradict if I recall. While I might be leaning towards "chants" again, I still like the idea of it being both. "Chants-" that one's easy, I suppose BOB and others must chant "Fire Walk With Me" in order to pass from our world to the Lodge. "Chance-" that one's for us humans, one chance to prove yourself between the real world (or the waiting room) and the Black Lodge... "Fire Walk With Me-" BOOM: Flames erupt, there's your one chance. I could see BOB as the magician (or by variation a dugpa); the "darkness of futures past" is the Black Lodge, as time is not linear in the Lodge. He longs to see through his possibly limiting world into our tempting one, by having fun with doomed souls. As someone mentioned before, Coop employs magic (admitting that there's no other way of classifying it), and this is in order to see through what has been in the dark (who killed Laura) of a future passed (the 25-years later fleeting dream).

Again, just fun interpretations.

Yeah, and Al Strobel first got the the poem as DL's handwritten note where it said 'chants'.

What comes to explanations, I'd like to state that even though I don't find searching for "the right meaning" interesting, I do like to have fun with interpretation possibilities and sure like to read all of your views.

"What credit card do you want to put that on?"
"Caash, prease."

"What credit card do you want to put that on?"
"Caash, prease."

In the words of Lynch himself: "Bullshit. Complete, fucking, bullshit." Doesn't Lynch also say that he welcomes interpretations in his non-linear work that don't necessarily correspond to his own intentions (which he doesn't even reveal for that reason)? I don't care whether it was scripted that way; if sources make that contradiction, then I'm of the opinion that it's for a reason. I'm not deeming any of my ideas as the real thing, and neither should anyone else unless Lynch and/or Frost do a proverbial "scientist in lab coat" explanation to wrap up the whole of the series and its mythos. Think about it, pertaining to the Black Lodge, the townsfolk all have a different idea of what it is/means: Sheriff Truman and the Bookhouse Boys deem it "The evil in the woods," Hawk refers to it as the Black Lodge, and Margaret Lanterman has "The owls."

 Again, just more fun interpretations, but I frankly got a bit peeved when people wrote about "facts" pertaining to this show, and more specifically this aspect of the show.

"What credit card do you want to put that on?"
"Caash, prease."

albie needs to read this thread.
on second hand, maybe not.

Well, Evenreven said it all already. But I can't shut up. I too agree that all interpretations are valid ones. I'm not trying to make the right interpretations & I'd never try to force other people to go with mine. Hell, my own views change all the time and that's the way I like it.

But we were talking about a whole different thing. We were talking about that the line of the poem has been incorrectly quoted at some point. And for some reason, maybe because the incorrect one has appeared in the script, people have started thinking that maybe it really is "chance" not "chants" or maybe it's both & made all kinds of theories to back up their beliefs

OK here's my take on it.

The poem is actually recited in the show -not exactly written-, so I think even if you have the 'right' version of the script, it is actually irrelevant since it is a vocal formulation and 'chance' or 'chants' sound exactly the same.

So the possibility that it has both meaning is actually more potent for me, since it packs more different interpretations.

The line 'Thru the darkness of future past' is actually pretty intriguing.

I think it has to do with parallel worlds. Future past is actually situated between the present and the future, ends before the actual future. The parallel of present time, in the form of white or black lodge. 'Darkness' denotes an unclear, unpure will at work. But it could be the assumption that every soul has a dark place or that this kind of activity darkens it.

Now a problem I see stems from the possibility the 'magician' could 'long to see' either the future past or through it. I'm still undecided about it. Maybe if the dugpa "sees through" the lodges means he can get out from the lodges, thus acting upon the 'reality' outside from what he has gathered, be it energy, information or else his hearts desires (garmonbozia, for example). The 'see' part implies survival or integrity thus a certain mastery (or magicianship?)

The second part of the poem is like an activation key.

The sound wind makes through the pines. The sentience of animals. What we fear and what lies beyond the darkness.