Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


NOON AND NIGHT FLOWER by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: NOT ANY FLOWER THAT BLOWS
Last Line: LIFTS HER DIM TORCH TO LIGHT THAT DREAMING FACE.

Not any flower that blows
But shining watch doth keep;
Every swift changing chequered hour it knows
Now to break forth in beauty; now to sleep.

This for the roving bee
Keeps open house, and this
Stainless and clear is, that in darkness she
May lure the moth to where her nectar is.

Lovely beyond the rest
Are these of all delight: --
The tiny pimpernel that noon loves best,
The primrose palely burning through the night.

One 'neath day's burning sky
With ruby decks her place,
The other when eve's chariot glideth by
Lifts her dim torch to light that dreaming face.



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