Poems New and Old by John Freeman
page 64 of 309 (20%)
page 64 of 309 (20%)
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Of human faces I remember none Amid the garden; but myself alone With creeping-jenny, sunflower, marigold, snapdragon-- These all my love, these now all my light, Bringing their kindness to any painful night. The sun brushed all their brightness with his skirt more bright. And I was happy when I knew it not, Dreaming of nothing more than that small plot, And the high sky and sun that floated bright and hot. But what night was, save dark, I did not know. The blind shut out the stars: the moon would go Staring, unstared at, moon and stars unnoted flow. Until one night, into the strange street led, To stare at a strange light from the Factory shed, Wheeling and darting, withdrawn, and sudden again outsped-- No one knew why--but I knew darkness then, And saw the stars that hung so still; but when I lay abed the old starless dark came back again. Night is not night without the stars and moon. I knew them not, or I forgot too soon, And now remember only the glowing sun of noon, The red floor, and yellow flowers, and a lonely child, |
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