The vivid grass with visible delight Springing triumphant from the pregnant earth, The butterflies, and sparrows in brief flight Chirping and dancing for the season's birth, The dandelions and rare daffodils That touch the deep-stirred heart with hands of gold, The thrushes sending forth their joyous trills,-- Not these, not these did I at first behold! But seated on the benches daubed with green, The castaways of life, a few asleep, Some withered women desolate and mean, And over all, life's shadows dark and deep. Moaning I turned away, for misery I have the strength to bear but not to see. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOYHOOD FRIENDS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS ON THE RUINS OF A COUNTRY INN by PHILIP FRENEAU A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 44 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN PHILLIS'S AGE by MATTHEW PRIOR SERENADE by JEAN FRANCOIS VICTOR AICARD PALINODE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH HELLENS RAPE; OR A LIGHT LANTHORNE FOR LIGHT LADIES by RICHARD BARNFIELD |