Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A LAKE MEMORY by WILLIAM WILFRED CAMPBELL

First Line: THE LAKE COMES THROBBING IN WITH VOICE OF PAIN
Last Line: THIS RAIN OF SPRAY THAT BLOWS ABOUT MY FACE.
Subject(s): LAKES; POOLS; PONDS;

THE lake comes throbbing in with voice of pain
Across these flats, athwart the sunset's glow,
I see her face, I know her voice again,
Her lips, her breath, O God, as long ago.

To live the sweet past over I would fain,
As lives the day in the red sunset's fire,
That all these wild, wan marshlands now would stain,
With the dawn's memories, loves and flushed desire.

I call her back across the vanished years,
Nor vain -- a white-armed phantom fills her place;
Its eyes the wind-blown sunset fires, its tears
This rain of spray that blows about my face.



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