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The Flower

Text of Poem

The afternoon bent over
like a tired lily but you
spoke words shining as petals
just fresh from spring’s root.
Though flowering trees, tulips,
the blue hyacinths, so bright
in their first array, fade in
the sun and shed pale ravellings
on the ground, today love blooms
in your eyes as if no flower
so whitely opened was ever spent.

First Line
The afternoon bent over
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1976
Original Citation
Shaken by Leaf-Fall. Ann Arbor, MI: Kylix Press. 1976. 15.
Complete Poems
299
Hearst Collections
Word Count
60
Poetic Form
open
Themes