A BABE sleeps under the lilac-tree, And coos in dreams a childish glee, Till from a purple petal-rim A dew-drop falling wakens him. A youth waits under the lilac-tree; The moon glides over silently. Along the mottled vineyard slope A shadow flits to mock his hope. A man strides under the lilac-tree; He crushes its branches heedlessly, Not seeing 'neath the scented crest A songster's feather-tufted nest. The west wind moans through the lilac-tree, And sets the last dead heart-leaf free; The whirling leaf swift eddies round, And rests upon a new-made mound. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWENTY-FOUR HOKKU ON A MODERN THEME by AMY LOWELL SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ELMER BARR by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TUNICA PALLIO PROPRIOR by MARIANNE MOORE WALT WHITMAN by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON GOOD FRIDAY HYMN by GEORGE SANTAYANA APOLLO AT LAX by KAREN SWENSON THE KIND MOON by SARA TEASDALE |