Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AMOR UMBRATILIS by ERNEST CHRISTOPHER DOWSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: A GIFT OF SILENCE, SWEET
Last Line: MY SILENCE, FOR YOUR SAKE.
A GIFT of Silence, sweet!
Who may not ever hear:
To lay down at your unobservant feet,
Is all the gift I bear.

I have no songs to sing,
That you should heed or know:
I have no lilies, in full hands, to fling
Across the path you go.

I cast my flowers away,
Blossoms unmeet for you!
The garland I have gathered in my day:
My rosemary and rue.

I watch you pass and pass,
Serene and cold: I lay
My lips upon your trodden, daisied grass,
And turn my life away.

Yea, for I cast you, sweet!
This one gift, you shall take:
Like ointment, on your unobservant feet
My silence, for your sake.



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