Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PAST AND PRESENT, by JOHN COWPER POWYS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PAST AND PRESENT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'll never forgive you! I said
Last Line: As I seek to harden my heart?
Subject(s): Anger; Death; Forgiveness; Past; Dead, The; Clemency


"I'll never forgive you!" I said,
As among the Phloxes we went,
Where the orchard-rails begin;
And now that the Phloxes are dead
And the apples gathered in,
My anger is quite spent.

But between your hands and me --
Hands that I hated so
Because they were like a girl's! --
Leagues of unfathomed sea
Under the cold moon flow,
Sprinkled with wrecks, not pearls.

And "I'll never forgive" has turned
To "I'll never forget" and you, --
Ah! that's the sharpest sting! --
While the too soft hands I spurned
Are now my only clue,
Have forgotten everything.

And over the Phloxes' grave
Grow other, alien flowers,
And the orchard rails are gone.
Life will not stoop to save
Even such tokens as ours,
As it roars and eddies on.

With wrecks strewn, not with pearls,
Are our far-divided sands,
As the salt sea holds us apart,
Are they still as soft as a girl's,
Or have they hardened, your hands,
As I seek to harden my heart?





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