Kabbalistically, these are symbols of shevirah and tikkun, spiritual “breakage” and rectification of the universe, and correspondingly in the inner world of every human being and creature. The bard attempts to heal the cosmic rift brought about by the storm wind through his poetic speech. Through these symbols, Rabbi Nachman indicates the function of the poetry of the tzaddikim, which is to bring harmony to the universe.
This is supported by another mention of poetry found in the Breslov literature. According to Chayei Moharan 216, Rabbi Nachman once remarked: “In order to create poetry (archaic: poesie), one must be able to say peh-zie” In Yiddish, a woman is zie (literally, “she”). In other words, to be a master of holy speech – poet as prophet – one must be a true tzaddik; and to become a true tzaddik, one must become entirely free of craving for sensual gratification.
(The word play does not work for women, but presumably the same concept applies. Our sages state that during ancient times, more than a million Jews were engaged in the prophetic mysteries, and according to one opinion women constituted half of that number; see Megillah 14a; Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:22.)
Poetry has an intrinsic association with prophecy, as we see throughout the biblical canon. Thus, Rabbi Nachman stresses that in order to attain higher spiritual perceptions, one must purify the body of all physical desire. This is exemplified by the austerity of Moses mentioned in the first stanza of the Shir Na’im, and by that of Rabbi Nachman himself. It is likely that the poetry to which he referred in the above word play denotes his Torah lessons, which like poetry are multi-dimensional in their nuances of meaning and vividly imagistic throughout. The Shir Na’im, therefore, may be said to be a foretaste of the “real poetry”: the teachings of Likkutei Moharan.