Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLIGHT by ARNA BONTEMPS

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: I HAVE SEEN A LOVELY THING
Last Line: BUT I HEAR THE BEATING OF DEAD BOUGHS.
I have seen a lovely thing
Stark before a ship of weather:
The tree that was so wistful after spring,
Beating barren twigs together.

The birds that came there one by one,
The sensuous leaves that used to sway
And whisper there at night, all are gone;
Each has vanished in its way.

And this whip is on my heart.
There is no sound that it allows,
No little song that I may start
But I hear the beating of dead boughs.



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