Classic Poem

Rosy plum-tree, think of me
When Spring comes down the world.

TIRED

Sparkle up, little tired flower
Leaning in the grass!
Did you find the rain of night
Too heavy to hold?

WATER

The world turns softly,
Not to spill its lakes and rivers.
The water is held in its arms,
And the sky is held in the water.
What is water,
That pours silver
And can hold the sky?

THUNDER SHOWER

The dark cloud raged:
Gone was the morning light.
The big drops darted down,
The storm stood tall on the rose-trees;
And the bees that were getting honey
Out of wet roses,
The hiding bees would not come out of the flowers
Into the rain.

MORNING

There is a brook I must hear
Before I go to sleep.
There is a birch-tree I must visit
Every night of clearness.
I have to do some dreaming,
I have to listen a great deal,
Before light comes back
By a silver arrow of cloud,
And I rub my eyes and say,
It must be morning on this hill!

POPLARS

The poplars bow forward and back;
They are like a fan waving very softly.
They tremble,
For they love the wind in their feathery branches.
They love to look down at the shallows,
At the mermaids
On the sandy shore.
They love to look into morning's face
Cool in the water.

YELLOW SUMMER-THROAT

Yellow summer-throat sat singing
In a bending spray of willow tree.
Thin fine green-y lines on his throat,
The ruffled outside of his throat,
Trembled when he sang.
He kept saying the same thing —
The willow did not mind.
I knew what he said, I knew! —
But how can I tell you?
I have to watch the willow bend in the wind.

NIGHT GOES RUSHING BY

Night goes hurrying over
Like sweeping clouds.
The birds are nested, their song is silent;
The wind says oo-oo-oo through the trees
For their lullaby.
The moon shines down on the sleeping birds.
My cottage-roof is like a sheet of silk
Spun like a cobweb.
My apple-trees are bare as the oaks in the forest —
When the moon shines
I see no leaves.

I am alone and very quiet,
Hoping the moon may say something
Before long.

SNOW-FLAKE SONG

Snowflakes come in fleets
Like ships over the sea.
The moon shines down on the crusty snow;
The stars make the sky sparkle like gold-fish in a glassy bowl.
Bluebirds are gone now,
But they left their song behind them.
The moon seems to say,
It is time for summer when the birds come back
To pick up their lonesome songs.

POEMS

See the fur coats go by!
The morning is like the inside of a snow-apple.
I will curl myself cushion-shape
On the window-seat;
I will read poems by snow-light.
If I cannot understand them so,
I will turn them upside down
And read them by the red candles
Of garden brambles.

MY MIND AND I

We are friends,
My mind and I . . . . .
Yet sometimes we cannot understand each other,
As though a cloud had gone over the sun,
Or the pool all blind with trees
Had forgotten the sky.

LILACS

After lilacs come out,
The air loves to flow about them
The way water in wood-streams
Flows and loves and wanders.
I think the wind has a sadness
Lifting other leaves, other sprays . . . . .
I think the wind is a little selfish
About lilacs when they flower.

BUTTERFLY

As I walked through my garden
I saw a butterfly light on a flower.
His wings were pink and purple.
He spoke a small word; it was Follow!
" I cannot follow, "
I told him,
" I have to go the opposite way. "

I AM

I am willowy boughs
For coolness;
I am gold-finch wings
For darkness;
I am a little grape
Thinking of September,
I am a very small violet
Thinking of May.