Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SONG OF APPLE-BLOOM, by GORDON BOTTOMLEY Poet's Biography First Line: Have you not waked in the grey of the day-dawn Last Line: "come, lasses, come, ere our rose-world falls grey." Subject(s): Apples; Fruit | ||||||||
HAVE you not waked in the grey of the day-dawn Whitely to stand at the window scarce-seen, Over the garden to peer in the May-dawn Past to the fruit-close whose pale boughs not green Slowly reveal a fresh faintness a-flutter White to the young grass and flushed to the sky? O, then a low call to waking we utter "Bloom, lasses, apple-bloom spurts low and high. "Out, lasses, out, to the apple-garth hasten -- Nay, never tarry to net your glad hair: Here are no lovers your shoe-clasps to fasten -- This is an hour when girls' feet may go bare. Over the dim lawn the May rime yet lingers, Pallid and dark as the down of the dawn -- Gather your skirts in your delicate fingers, Stoop as you run o'er the flowerless lawn. "Look through the trees ere dawn's twilight is over -- Lo, how the light boughs reach up to the stars; Everywhere bloom seems the grey sky to cover, Too cold to have scent though no rain-rust yet mars. Wet are the flowerets to wash your faint faces -- Bury your faces cheek-deep in their chill; Press the thick petals and open your dresses -- So -- let them trickle your young breasts to thrill. "Winter has wronged us of sunlight and sweetness, We who so soon must be hid from the sun; Winter is on us as Summer's completeness Faint-hearted drops down a tired world undone; Brief is the bloom-time as sleepy maids' laughter Who know not one bedtime 'tis Summer's last day, Though from the heart of the rose they have quaffed her; Come, lasses, come, ere our rose-world falls grey." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CROSSED APPLE by LOUISE BOGAN TO MY CLASS: ON CERTAIN FRUITS AND FLOWERS SENT ... SICKNESS by SIDNEY LANIER APPLES OF HESPERIDES by AMY LOWELL THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE HUMAN, AVIAN, VEGETABLE, BLOOD by KENNETH REXROTH |
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