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Sunday, December 13, 2015

Dead Leaves / Ethelwyn Wetherald


Dead Leaves

Dead leaves in the bird’s nest,
     And after that the snow;
That was where the bird’s breast
     Tenderly did go,
Where the tiny birds pressed
     Lovingly — and lo!
Dead leaves in the bird’s nest
     Under falling snow.

Dead leaves in the heart’s nest,
     And after that the snow;
That was where the heart’s guest
     Brooded months ago,
Where the tender thoughts pressed
     Lovingly — and lo!
Dead leaves in the heart’s nest
     Under falling snow.

~~
Ethelwyn Wetherald (1857-1940)
from The Last Robin: Lyrics and sonnets, 1907

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Ethelwyn Wetherald biography

2 comments:

  1. A lovely poem. The author's life almost matches Margaret Deland's (1857-1945)

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  2. Wetherald is, like Deland, another forgotten poet who well deserves to be rediscovered. As a Canadian, she was never that well known in the U.S., but she's been all but forgotten in her own country, too. She wrote late-romantic verse at the time o the (male) Confederation poets, which sold well; but, perhaps because she was a woman, was never taken as seriously as were those.

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