Do the Sentences Change Our View?

The poem can be viewed in two ways - as either stanzas, or as sentences.  I think both need to be considered when we're solving the poem.

Case in point:

Begin it where warm waters halt
And take it in the canyon down,
Not far, but too far to walk.
Put in below the home of Brown.

As a stanza it appears we're to find a place where warm waters halt, then take something in the canyon down, then go a distance that is not far, but too far to walk, then put in below the home of Brown.

If instead we view the stanza in the sentences that are complete, and structurally sound - that is grammatically correct, we get:

Begin it where warm waters halt and take it in the canyon down, not far, but too far to walk.  Put in below the home of Brown.

The sentences, read this way, tell us that we are going to begin "it" where warm waters halt and take "it" in the canyon down, not far, but too far to walk.

Can you see the difference?  Do you think it matters?