Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SCENT OF IRISES, by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SCENT OF IRISES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: A faint, sickening scent of irises
Last Line: Forget each other and the bruise of our bodies' clash.]
Alternate Author Name(s): Lawrence, D. H.
Subject(s): Iris (flower); Smells; Odors; Aromas; Fragrances


A FAINT, sickening scent of irises
Persists all morning. Here in a jar on the table
A fine proud spike of purple irises
Rising above the class-room litter, makes me unable
To see the class's lifted and bended faces
Save in a broken pattern, amid purple and gold and sable.

I can smell the gorgeous bog-end, in its breathless
Dazzle of may-blobs, when the marigold glare overcast you
With fire on your cheeks and your brow and your chin as you dipped
Your face in the marigold bunch, to touch and contrast you,
Your own dark mouth with the bridal faint lady-smocks,
Dissolved on the golden sorcery you should not outlast.

You amid the bog-end's yellow incantation,
You sitting in the cowslips of the meadow above,
Me, your shadow on the bog-flame, flowery may-blobs,
Me full length in the cowslips, muttering you love;
You, your soul like a lady-smock, lost, evanescent,
You with your face all rich, like the sheen of a dove.

You are always asking, do I remember, remember
The butter-cup bog-end where the flowers rose up
And kindled you over deep with a cast of gold?
You ask again, do the healing days close up
The open darkness which then drew us in,
The dark which then drank up our brimming cup.

You upon the dry, dead beech-leaves, in the fire of night
Burnt like a sacrifice; you invisible;
Only the fire of darkness, and the scent of you!
-- And yes, thank God, it still is possible
The healing days shall close the darkness up
Wherein we fainted like a smoke or dew.

Like vapour, dew, or poison. Now, thank God,
The fire of night is gone, and your face is ash
Indistinguishable on the grey, chill day;
The night had burst us out, at last the good
Dark fire burns on untroubled, without clash
Of you upon the dead leaves saying me Yea.


[or, Like vapour, dew of poison! Now, thank God
The last year's fire is gone, and your face is ash;
And the gulf that came between you, woman, and me, man,
That day is half grown over, it need not abash
Either of us any more; henceforth we can
Forget each other and the bruise of our bodies' clash.]




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