I swept the fallen leaves up yesterday And touched them with slow fire; And as I saw smoke rise and drift away I knew a keen desire To sweep my mind of old things lying there, Dreams long since dead ... Hopes that have clung like leaves on boughs now bare, And tears that I have shed ... I longed to gather every little grief Left scattered round, Small doubts and fears and lay them in a sheaf On fire, smoke crowned, Then stir the embers so a wind might find And lift the ashes of old praise or blame And bear them far away, leaving my mind Clean as if swept with flame. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PIANO by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE ON A GRAVE AT GRINDELWALD by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS CRADLE SONG (TO A TUNE OF BLAKE'S): 1 by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE LIVING GOD by ABRAHAM IBN EZRA SCAMPS OF ROMANCE by WILLIAM ROSE BENET WINTER SONG by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN |