Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SICK-ROOM, by MARIA WHITE LOWELL Poet's Biography First Line: A spirit is treading the earth Last Line: And a heap of ashes gray. Subject(s): Earth; Life; Spring; World | ||||||||
A spirit is treading the earth, As wind treads the vibrating string; I know thy feet so beautiful, Thy punctual feet, O Spring! They slide from far-off mountains, As slides the untouched snow; They move over deepening meadows, As vague cloud-shadows blow. Thou wilt not enter the chamber, The door stands open in vain; Thou art pluming the wands of cherry To lattice the window pane. Thou flushest the sunken orchard With the lift of thy rosy wing; The peach will not part with her sunrise Though great noon-bells should ring. O life, and light, and gladness, Tumultuous everywhere! O pain and benumbing sadness, That brood in the heavy air! Here the fire alone is busy, And wastes, like the fever's heat, The wood that enshrined past summers, Past summers, as bounteous as fleet. The beautiful hanging gardens That rocked in the morning wind, And sheltered a dream of Faery, And life so timid and kind, The shady choir of the bobolink, The race-course of squirrels gay, -- They are changed into trembling smoke-wreaths, And a heap of ashes gray. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BROKEN BALANCE by ROBINSON JEFFERS SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS GEOMETAPHYSICS by MARGARET AVISON NIAGARA by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS SOPHISTICATION by CONRAD AIKEN I SEE CHILE IN MY REARVIEW MIRROR by AGHA SHAHID ALI WASHING OUR HANDS OF THE REST OF AMERICA by MARVIN BELL THE EARTH IS A LIVING THING by LUCILLE CLIFTON |
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