Steel, hard to dent, once dented Is history of blows That, by the rust augmented, Barren resistance shows -- And that is all one knows. O heart I thought to harden To steel to bear the blow, You grew more like a garden Time walks and the winds sow -- And seasons come and go. The sod, where heels were twisted, Springs back at last in rain. Spots, sometimes flower-misted, Some prone earth-pressing pain First crushed where it had lain. If scars are worth the keeping The steel is rich indeed -- O heart, this wistful reaping Of restless waiting seed That flowers where you bleed! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: HENRY PHIPPS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SONNET: WRITTEN ON THE DAY THAT MR. LEIGH HUNT LEFT PRISON by JOHN KEATS THE JEWISH CEMETERY AT NEWPORT by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW IKE WALTON'S PRAYER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY ALEC YEATON'S SON; GLOUCESTER, AUGUST, 1720 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |