Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE FLOWER by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: LISTEN, I WHO LOVE THEE WELL
Last Line: TWOULD LULL THY SOUL TO SLEEP.

Listen, I who love thee well
Have travelled far, and secrets tell;
Cold the moon that gleams thine eyes,
Yet beneath her further skies
Rests, for thee, a paradise.

I have plucked a flower in proof,
Frail, in earthly light, forsooth:
See, invisible it lies
In this palm: now veil thine eyes:
Quaff its fragrancies!

Would indeed my throat had skill
To breathe thee music, faint and still --
Music learned in dreaming deep
In those lands, from Echo's lip. . . .
'Twould lull thy soul to sleep.



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