Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RECOLLECTION by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH

First Line: HOW CAN IT BE THAT I FORGET
Last Line: AND THROWS AWAY THE GRAIN.
Subject(s): MEMORY;
How can it be that I forget
The way he phrased my doom,
When I recall the arabesques
That carpeted the room?

How can it be that I forget
His look and mien that hour,
When I recall I wore a rose,
And still can smell the flower?

How can it be that I forget
Those words that were the last,
When I recall the tune a man
Was whistling as he passed?

These things are what we keep from life's
Supremest joy or pain;
For Memory locks her chaff in bins
And throws away the grain.



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