Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ONLY THE DAFFODILS, by CLARA LOUISE LUKENS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ONLY THE DAFFODILS, by                    
First Line: I know a spot where I have buried a sorrow
Last Line: Only the startled daffodils!
Subject(s): Daffodils


I know a spot where I have buried a sorrow; --
Buried it in the beauty of the spring;
Buried it under a sprawling oak
Where startled daffodils
Like golden exclamations
Look from their yellow bonnets
Across a misty valley
At faintly purpled hills!
I know a place where I have buried a sorrow.

When spring comes back,
I make my pilgrimage
To see the daffodils.
And underneath that oak
I meet my sorrow
New risen with the beauty-pain of spring!
Perpetually he waits
With laughing, mocking eyes
Under the oak
To greet me.
And I have cursed and said,
"Go back again into your grave!"
And I have laughed and said,
"What, you again, my love?
I had forgotten!"

Fleeing fresh sorrow, I have gone to find
A sorrow sweeter in the past,
Veiled with forgotten beauty;
Gone to place beside it other griefs, --
The gradual griefs of age,
Easier to bear.

O gay young sorrow
That never will lie down to sleep,
Spring comes again
And we shall meet once more
Under the sprawling oak.
Teach me this time.
Teach me to weep, -- I have forgot!
Help me to feel fresh pain.
Life hardens me -- I would remember
Now spring is here again!

You will be there, I know! ... It could not be ...
Suppose ... suppose I should go back and find
Only the hills
Only the trees
Only the startled daffodils!





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