Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SENIOR, by IRENE H. WILSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SENIOR, by                    
First Line: You will go out this june from cloistered halls
Last Line: And you are gone.
Subject(s): Commencement; Universities & Colleges; Graduation


You will go out this June from cloistered halls
Of academic wisdom, from quiet walks
Beneath the campus trees, from starlit talks
Of youth and life and God. Your future calls
You into the swirl of cities and of men;
You will not come this way again.

You touch my hand and speak sweet, awkward words
Of thanks and parting. You will remember me
As long as singing birds and stars shall be --
And yet --
You will forget.
I watch you go --
I who have trembled for you, hoped, rejoiced,
And stretched a careful finger forth to guide you.

Your soul is a clean, white book whose pages glow
Scarlet and gold and blue -- I shall not know
The ending of the story therein voiced.
Your soul is a fragile moth with pale gold wings,
New-broken from its chrysalis; it clings
Vibrant upon youth's stem; I shall not see
The beauty of your flight, radiant and free.
Your soul is a delicate plant I have watched unfolding
Green leaf by clear green leaf;
But you will flower far from my beholding,
So frail remembrance is, so rare, so brief.
Your soul is a small brown bird whose hesitant flying
I follow anxiously; I cannot shield
You from rough winds and storm. You flutter on,
A gleam of sunlight round you prophesying
Your soaring strength. Across the ripening field
You drift, and lift above the wood -- on -- on -- until
You flash beyond the hill --

And you are gone.





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