Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FORESIGHT, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FORESIGHT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: That is work of waste and ruin
Last Line: And for that promise spare the flower!


THAT is work of waste and ruin --
Do as Charles and I are doing!
Strawberry-blossoms, one and all,
We must spare them -- here are many:
Look at it -- the flower is small,
Small and low, though fair as any:
Do not touch it! summers two
I am older, Anne, than you.
Pull the primrose, sister Anne!
Pull as many as you can.
-- Here are daisies, take your fill;
Pansies, and the cuckoo-flower:
Of the lofty daffodil
Make your bed, or make your bower;
Fill your lap, and fill your bosom;
Only spare the strawberry-blossom!
Primroses, the Spring may love them --
Summer knows but little of them:
Violets, a barren kind,
Withered on the ground must lie;
Daisies leave no fruit behind
When the pretty flowerets die;
Pluck them, and another year
As many will be blowing here.
God has given a kindlier power
To the favoured strawberry-flower.
Hither soon as spring is fled
You and Charles and I will walk;
Lurking berries, ripe and red,
Then will hang on every stalk,
Each within its leafy bower;
And for that promise spare the flower!







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