THE opal heart of afternoon Was clouding on to throbs of storm, Ashen within the ardent west The lips of thunder muttered harm, And as a bubble like to break Hung heaven's trembling amethyst, When with the sedge-grass by the lake I braceleted her wrist. And when the ribbon grass was tied, Sad with the happiness we planned, Palm linked in palm we stood awhile And watched the raindrops dot the sand; Until the anger of the breeze Chid all the lake's bright breathing down, And ravished all the radiancies From her deep eyes of brown. We gazed from shelter on the storm, And through our hearts swept ghostly pain To see the shards of day sweep past, Broken, and none might mend again. Broken, that none shall ever mend; Loosened, that none shall ever tie. O the wind and the wind, will it never end? O the sweeping past of the ruined sky! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONCORD HYMN; SUNG AT COMPLETION OF CONCORD MONUMENT, 1836 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON BEYOND THE POTOMAC by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE MEMORIAL TO D.C.: 5. ELEGY by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY ANNE by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE CASSANDRA SOUTHWICK; 1658 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE FEILIRE OF ADAMNAN by ADAMNAN |