Would that they had said this about Clara now.

[Coffee Break]

I encountered the sentence "Would that they had said this about Clara now", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:

Clara was right: others were important, and sometimes they’re all that stands between us and the ditch. Why wouldn’t such an idea have occurred to me—that others were important—why did I have to fish it out from under a sheet of ice in an ice-fishing hut? A plate, a spoon, a knife, and a fork.

Would that they had said this about Clara now.

“You’re not saying anything, and I don’t like it,” said Rachel, breaking the silence around me with another one of her prods.

- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Seventh Night

This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. It is narrated by a nameless male protagonist. He meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Now the protagonist is at another party, being relatively silent, because his mind is busy thinking about Clara who is meeting another friend. So the host Rachel asks why he is not saying anything.

I wonder what the underlined sentence means.
I find the structure of this sentence especially difficult to parse, so I just wanted to ask you.

 

[Rover_KE]

It might help you to know that ‘would that’ means ‘if only’.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Rover_KE,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
Oh my! I didn't know that "Would that" itself is an idiomatic expression!

So it means, "If only they had said this remark about Clara now".
In other words, "I wish they had said this remark of spoon and fork right now, while talking about Clara".

I was trying to parse this sentence in vain, not knowing that "would that" is an idiomatic expression itself...
I learned a new thing all thanks to you. I truly appreciate your help.