Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


NIGHT-LILAC by MARK VAN DOREN

Poet Analysis

First Line: LILAC ALONE - / STANDING SO QUIET, SO DIM, OUTSIDE
Last Line: DIM LILAC, AND SHINE!
Subject(s): FLOWERS; LILACS;

Lilac alone --
Standing so quiet, so dim, outside
Till the door-light died
On cricket and stone --

Do you sleep at last?
Or -- beyond this night that has taken my yard --
Do you stare more hard,
In a night more vast,

At the great white things
That move the outermost world -- the whale,
The stallion, the pale
High planet with rings,

The raven, the bull,
And the midnight mountain that never is black?
Lilac, come back!
My lawn is too full

Of the dark; and the fine,
Impalpable shadows will never be still.
Return as you will,
Dim lilac, and shine!



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