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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO CHILDREN, by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Arvia, east of the morning Last Line: Back to my dream. Subject(s): Children | |||
Arvia, east of the morning, Before the daylight grayed, I heard a night song's warning: "This bubble-world shall fade." "The daytime with its fire-flower," It sang, "shall fail and stray; And Beauty, like a brier-flower, Shall pass -- shall pass away." Then soon the faint and far light Would fade beyond a beam And we'd lie down without starlight And there would be no dream. But now, when the noon is bluest, Like a shell that murmurs all, I see this world is the truest Of any I recall. The sky's wild birds are glancing, The sea's long waves are slow; It's all a place for dancing But no one seems to know. Come with me to the meadows, We'll dance your secret name With an outside dance in shadows And an inside dance in flame. The songs and the wings have slanted And blow with a golden sound; Life burns like a peak enchanted, Oh wild, enchanted, crowned. All day, while songs from the height fall, We'll dance the valleys bright, But we'll be on the hills at nightfall In the lovely, lonely light. Let's play we are a tune And make a kind of song About the sun and moon Before the stars were born. You be the breath, I'll be the horn, It will not take us long. JEAN SINGING Lavender's blue in the garden, Lavender's bright. When I am blind, my Beloved, You shall have sight. I shall be dust in the garden, Deep from the storm. You shall be shining still then, You shall be warm. When I am hidden in shadow Under the years, Call to me, tell me of all things Here among tears. I shall remember the glory Filling this place, The firebird calling through the rainbow: "Lift up your face." I shall remember how Beauty Over Death, over Birth, Bridges a streaming music Here on the earth. Only if wounds and the sorrow Made by men's hands Still should outdeepen the waters, Darken the lands, Even though day should recall me Then to its gleam, I shall remember and turn me Back to my dream. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE MEMORY OF A PORCH by DONALD JUSTICE EYE-WITNESS by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE THE SON; SOUTHERN OHIO MARKET TOWN by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE A VISION OF SPRING (LATE WINTER, 1915) by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE |
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