Night (by H.D.)

Click this photo to read Jesus Crisis' blog about Hilda Doolittle (includes two more poems)
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) in the 1910s

Night
[from Sea Garden, 1916]

The night has cut
each from each
and curled the petals
back from the stalk
and under it in crisp rows;

under at an unfaltering pace,
under till the rinds break,
back till each bent leaf
is parted from its stalk;

under at a grave pace,
under till the leaves
are bent back
till they drop upon earth,
back till they are all broken.

O night,
you take the petals
of the roses in your hand,
but leave the stark core
of the rose
to perish on the branch.


* * *

To read other H.D. works in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click here.

We also recommend these volumes from Amazon:

   

 
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Comments

  • 10/4/2009 7:41 PM me wrote:
    Are all of these from the same collection?
    Reply to this
    1. 10/4/2009 8:21 PM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Only the first five H.D. poems I posted ("Prayer," "Hymen," "Egypt," "Heat," and "The Whole White World") are not.  

      In June of 2009, after I'd posted those, I decided to go backwards to her first collection (Sea Garden) and post all the poems from it before any more of her later work.  Five more Sea Garden poems to go!
      Reply to this
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