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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VIOLET, by WILLIAM WETMORE STORY Poet's Biography
First Line: O faint, delicious, spring-time violet
Last Line: Thy velvet leaf.
Subject(s): Flowers; Violets
First Line: O faint, delicious, spring-time violet
Last Line: Thy velvet leaf.
Subject(s): Flowers; Violets
O FAINT, delicious, springtime violet!
Thine odor, like a key,
Turns noiselessly in memory's wards to let
A thought of sorrow free.
The breath of distant fields upon my brow
Blows through that open door
The sound of wind-borne bells, more sweet and low,
And sadder than of yore.
It comes afar, from that beloved place,
And that beloved hour,
When life hung ripening in love's golden grace,
Like grapes above a bower.
A spring goes singing through its reedy grass;
The lark sings o'er my head,
Drowned in the sky — O, pass, ye visions, pass!
I would that I were dead! —
Why hast thou opened that forbidden door,
From which I ever flee?
O vanished joy! O love, that art no more,
Let my vexed spirit be!
O violet! thy odor through my brain
Hath searched, and stung to grief
This sunny day, as if a curse did stain
Thy velvet leaf.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
HEAVY VIOLETS by BARBARA GUEST
THE YELLOW VIOLET by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
WAR IS KIND: 23 by STEPHEN CRANE
SONNET by ALICE RUTH MOORE DUNBAR-NELSON
HOW VIOLETS CAME BLUE by ROBERT HERRICK
UNDER THE VIOLETS by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
THE FADED VIOLET by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
CLEOPATRA by WILLIAM WETMORE STORY