These are the flowers for a mad bride -- At dusk, on the black earth, under black trees, She shall fill her torn, white hands with these. She shall be heard by all the countryside, When she comes singing to the woods' edge -- Whiter than dogwood shall flutter on the ledge The silver tatters of her bridal dress. Singing in a cracked voice a song of craziness, Down the vague meadow, where her floating veil Rests on the mist, she shall wander till her wail Dies along the river in the mown hay. There they shall find her at break of day, With eyes like the first white frost, with the tips Of her tired fingers and the droop of her lips Blackened like the flowers she had carried away, The flowers that were all one waxen white, Leaf, stem and cup, but could not last the night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOVER IN HELL by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET GOOD-BYE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A LITTLE GIRL'S PRAYER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD DEAF HOUSE AGENT by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THEME IN YELLOW by CARL SANDBURG |