Petals

Amy Lowell

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Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.

Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know. And the stream as it flows
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.

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Comments2
  • maybellen27

    Just read through this poem and it didn't quite resonate with me. Certain things just felt too abstract and nebulous, losing me along the way. The language, while beautiful, didn't make the message any clearer for me. However, I can certainly appreciate the effort and the skill that went into crafting those lines – it just wasn't to my personal taste.

    • unnelizbeth

      LOVING THIS POEM BUT I'M A LITTLE CONFUSED. IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S SPEAKING ABOUT LOSS AND THE PASSAGE OF TIME, BUT I'M NOT 100% SURE. DO YOU GUYS THINK IT'S MORE ABOUT REMEMBERING THE PAST OR LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE? DOES THE FLOWER SYMBOLIZE SOMETHING SPECIFIC? I'M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND IT BETTER FOR MY ENGLISH HOMEWORK. THANKS FOR ANY HELP!