Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AFTERWARD, by MARY MCDERMOTT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTERWARD, by                    
First Line: So now that the night has come, and the kindly stars
Last Line: I awake from the dream of love, and am clean and whole.
Subject(s): Night; Bedtime


So now that the night has come, and the kindly stars
Are singing their ancient, silver song in the sky,
You have gone, and the lake is quiet, and even I
Have hushed the weeping that held me. The sudden bars
Of the Northern Lights are green in the lake below,
And a whip-poor-will calls -- oh, beloved! Oh, my still beloved,
I am free again, for the force of the love that moved
Me once, is gone as a wave that will rise and go.

The ripples have broken the straight, strong line of the Lights
That are mirrored, and even so did your leaving shake
The strong and directed force that had moved my soul
In the days before you had lifted me to the heights.
But the battle is done, beloved. By the silent lake
I awake from the dream of love, and am clean and whole.





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