Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LEAF BURNING by VIRGINIA EATON

First Line: I SWEPT THE FALLEN LEAVES UP YESTERDAY
Last Line: CLEAN AS IF SWEPT WITH FLAME.
Subject(s): LEAVES;
I swept the fallen leaves up yesterday
And touched them with slow fire;
And as I saw smoke rise and drift away
I knew a keen desire

To sweep my mind of old things lying there,
Dreams long since dead ...
Hopes that have clung like leaves on boughs now bare,
And tears that I have shed ...

I longed to gather every little grief
Left scattered round,
Small doubts and fears and lay them in a sheaf
On fire, smoke crowned,

Then stir the embers so a wind might find
And lift the ashes of old praise or blame
And bear them far away, leaving my mind
Clean as if swept with flame.



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