Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SPRAY OF PLUM BLOSSOMS, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SPRAY OF PLUM BLOSSOMS, by                    
First Line: She has separated my lord and me
Last Line: Or as plum blossoms in early spring.
Subject(s): Fruit; Plums; Unfaithfulness; Plum Trees; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


SHE has separated my lord and me;
She came into my home
As a friend—a friend of mine—
And she stole his heart from me.
But because she is now dear to him
So is she also dear to me.
And I put this spray of
Plum blossoms in her room.
The first blossoms of the year, white as rice,
And white as the skin of her throat;
So I think she will understand
And have no fear.
(Fear makes lines in women's faces
And that would grieve my lord.)
The plum blossoms will make her know
—She is quick to understand.
That when the rice famine comes—
And it threatens—
There will be plenty for her and my lord;
My lord loves her
And I love my lord.
They must not suffer
Nor will I,
For when one has grown old and sallow,
And the skin of the throat lies like the folds of the eri
It is pleasant to go over the water-fall.
My lord will think it an accident.
That in watching its rainbow
I leane'd too far over the edge.
Perhaps at its foot
I shall dream a little
Of the time when my skin, too, was white as the rice-kernel,
Or as plum blossoms in early spring.





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