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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SUNKEN GARDEN by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: SPEAK NOT - WHISPER NOT
Last Line: THAT ONE LITTLE LEADEN LAD.
Subject(s): GARDENS & GARDENING;

Speak not -- whisper not;
Here bloweth thyme and bergamot;
Softly on the evening hour,
Secret herbs their spices shower.
Dark-spiked rosemary and myrrh,
Lean-stalked purple lavender;
Hides within her bosom, too,
All her sorrows, bitter rue.

Breathe not -- trespass not;
Of this green and darkling spot,
Latticed from the moon's beams,
Perchance a distant dreamer dreams;
Perchance upon its darkening air,
The unseen ghosts of children fare,
Faintly swinging, sway and sweep,
Like lovely sea-flowers in the deep;
While, unmoved, to watch and ward,
Amid its gloomed and daisied sward,
Stands with bowed and dewy head
That one little leaden Lad.



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