Friday, March 6, 2009

Poetry Friday: Spring in War-Time


Revisiting Caroline Gardner Clark Bartlett inspired me to search through war-themed poetry, specifically poems written in response to World War I. Sara Teasdale wrote Spring in War-Time at the dawn of World War I. As we edge closer to spring in our own time of war, Sara's nearly 100-year old words prove timeless.

Spring in War-Time
by Sara Teasdale

I FEEL the spring far off, far off,
The faint, far scent of bud and leaf
Oh, how can spring take heart to come
To a world in grief,
Deep grief?

The sun turns north, the days grow long,
Later the evening star grows bright—
How can the daylight linger on
For men to fight,
Still fight?

The grass is waking in the ground,
Soon it will rise and blow in waves—
How can it have the heart to sway
Over the graves,
New graves?

Under the boughs where lovers walked
The apple-blooms will shed their breath—
But what of all the lovers now
Parted by Death,
Grey Death?

Anastasia Suen is hosting today's Poetry Friday at Picture Book of the Day. Check it out!

5 comments:

KURIOUS KITTY said...

So sad.

Anonymous said...

a very powerful poem.

thank you, andy.

jet

Kelly Polark said...

Now that is a very different look at spring. Thanks for sharing!

Andrea Murphy said...

I debated whether or not to share this poem. It's not exactly uplifting. In the end, I thought it acknowledged the dark reality so many people live with day in and day out. I suppose if it moves you, even to sadness, that's not a terrible thing. I only hope I didn't bring the room down too much!

Anonymous said...

Andy, I love the simplicity of this poem, the repetitive phrasing like sad heartbeats.

Mur