The Spring
(After Rilke)
Spring has returned! Everything has returned!
The earth, just like a schoolgirl, memorizes
Poems, so many poems. … Look, she has learned
So many famous poems, she has earned so many prizes!
Teacher was strict. We delighted in the white
Of the old man’s beard, bright like the snow’s:
Now we may ask which names are wrong, or right
For “blue,” for “apple,” for “ripe.” She knows, she knows!
Lucky earth, let out of school, now you must play
Hide-and-seek with all the children every day:
You must hide that we may seek you: we will! We will!
The happiest child will hold you. She knows all the things
You taught her: the word for “hope,” and for “believe,”
Are still upon her tongue. She sings and sings and sings.





Related poetry:
- Autobiographical The lover in these poems Is me; The doctor, Love. He appears As husband, lover Analyst & muse, As father, […]...
- Spring Carol WHEN loud by landside streamlets gush, And clear in the greenwood quires the thrush, With sun on the meadows And […]...
- From Spring Days To Winter (For Music) In the glad springtime when leaves were green, O merrily the throstle sings! I sought, amid the tangled sheen, Love […]...
- Spring When daisies pied, and violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver-white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with […]...
- 514. Song-The Lass o' Ecclefechan GAT ye me, O gat ye me, O gat ye me wi’ naething? Rock an reel, and spinning wheel, A […]...
- Spring and Winter ii WHEN icicles hang by the wall, And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, […]...
- By the Spring, at Sunset Sometimes we remember kisses, Remember the dear heart-leap when they came: Not always, but sometimes we remember The kindness, the […]...
- Poetry it Takes A lot of Desperation Dissatisfaction And Disillusion To Write A Few Good Poems. It’s not For Everybody Either […]...
- The Meadows In Spring ‘Tis a dull sight To see the year dying, When winter winds Set the yellow wood sighing: Sighing, oh! sighing. […]...
- Thought OF what I write from myself-As if that were not the resumé; Of Histories-As if such, however complete, were not […]...
- The New Poetry Handbook 1 If a man understands a poem, he shall have troubles. 2 If a man lives with a poem, he […]...
- Spring Quiet Gone were but the Winter, Come were but the Spring, I would go to a covert Where the birds sing; […]...
- Poor Poet ‘A man should write to please himself,’ He proudly said. Well, see his poems on the shelf, Dusty, unread. When […]...
- Late Spring I Ah, who will tell me, in these leaden days, Why the sweet Spring delays, And where she hides, the […]...
- Spring in Town The country ever has a lagging Spring, Waiting for May to call its violets forth, And June its roses showers […]...
- 538. Song-Now Spring has clad the grove in green NOW spring has clad the grove in green, And strew’d the lea wi’ flowers; The furrow’d, waving corn is seen […]...
- Spring At the first hour, it was as if one said, “Arise.” At the second hour, it was as if one […]...
- Judson Stoddard On a mountain top above the clouds That streamed like a sea below me I said that peak is the […]...
- Here I Am drunk again at 3 a. m. at the end of my 2nd bottle Of wine, I have typed from a […]...
- FAREWELL FROST, OR WELCOME SPRING Fled are the frosts, and now the fields appear Reclothed in fresh and verdant diaper; Thaw’d are the snows; and […]...
- Spring Greeting From the German of Herder. All faintly through my soul to-day, As from a bell that far away Is tinkled […]...
- Alter Ego ALL the morn a spirit gay Breathes within my heart a rhyme, ‘Tis but hide and seek we play In […]...
- Spring Song Hark, I hear a robin calling! List, the wind is from the south! And the orchard-bloom is falling Sweet as […]...
- Snow Day Today we woke up to a revolution of snow, Its white flag waving over everything, The landscape vanished, Not a […]...
- Flower God, God Of The Spring FLOWER god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful, Cold-dyed shield in the sky, lover of versicles, Here I wander in […]...
- 101. Song-Composed in Spring AGAIN rejoicing Nature sees Her robe assume its vernal hues: Her leafy locks wave in the breeze, All freshly steep’d […]...
- A spring poem from bion One asketh: “Tell me, Myrson, tell me true: What’s the season pleaseth you? Is it summer suits you best, When […]...
- The Spring Now that the winter’s gone, the earth hath lost Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost Candies the […]...
- Spring Wind in London I Blow across the stagnant world, I blow across the sea, For me, the sailor’s flag unfurled, For me, the […]...
- Saddest Poem I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. Write, for instance: “The night is full of stars, And the […]...
- Here the Frailest Leaves of Me HERE the frailest leaves of me, and yet my strongest-lasting: Here I shade and hide my thoughts-I myself do not […]...
- Early Spring Harshness vanished. A sudden softness Has replaced the meadows’ wintry grey. Little rivulets of water changed Their singing accents. Tendernesses, […]...
- The Argument Of His Book I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers, Of April, May, of June, and July-flowers. I sing of May-poles, […]...
- Spring To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the […]...
- Somewhere upon the general Earth Somewhere upon the general Earth Itself exist Today The Magic passive but extant That consecrated me Indifferent Seasons doubtless play […]...
- A Spring Piece Left In The Middle Taut, thick fingers punch The teeth of my typewriter. Three words are down on paper in capitals: SPRING SPRING SPRING… […]...
- THE SINGING SCHOOL The Poetry School, The Poetry Book Society, The Poetry Business: So much poetry about you’d think I’d want to shout, […]...
- THE SPRING ORACLE OH prophetic bird so bright, Blossom-songster, cuckoo bight! In the fairest time of year, Dearest bird, oh! deign to hear […]...
- Photography Extraordinary The Milk-and-Water School Alas! she would not hear my prayer! Yet it were rash to tear my hair; Disfigured, I […]...
- Ode To Salt This salt In the saltcellar I once saw in the salt mines. I know You won’t Believe me, But It […]...