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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR Poet's Biography
First Line: See how the shifting lights and shadows fall
Last Line: Whether with shine or shade the hours we fill.
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Life; Light; Shadows
First Line: See how the shifting lights and shadows fall
Last Line: Whether with shine or shade the hours we fill.
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Life; Light; Shadows
SEE how the shifting lights and shadows fall
Athwart the path where young leaves take the sun;
Blent in a wavering, tangled maze they run,
As blows the wind across the orchard wall,
So fleet, so faint, that careless play seems all, —
Yet perfect law imprints them, every one,
And tides might sooner seek the moon to shun
Than leaves this instant limning to forestall.
Thus do the lights and shadows of the soul
Unerringly portray its good and ill;
Each aim, each longing, fraught with joy or dole,
Traces an image on life's pathway still,
And the swift pictures are our judgment-scroll
Whether with shine or shade the hours we fill.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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THE ANIMAL INSIDE THE ANIMAL by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
DRIVING ALONGSIDE THE HOUSANTONIC RIVER ALONE ON A RAINY APRIL NIGHT by WILLIAM MATTHEWS
NOCTURNE IN A MINOR KEY by CONRAD AIKEN
SONATA IN PATHOS by CONRAD AIKEN
I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN
COLUMBUS DYING [MAY 20, 1506] by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR
SA-CA-GA-WE-A; THE INDIAN GIRL WHO GUIDED LEWIS AND CLARK by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR