Ballad Of Another Ophelia Poem by David Herbert Lawrence

Ballad Of Another Ophelia

Rating: 3.0


Oh the green glimmer of apples in the orchard,
Lamps in a wash of rain!
Oh the wet walk of my brown hen through the stackyard,
Oh tears on the window pane!

Nothing now will ripen the bright green apples,
Full of disappointment and of rain,
Brackish they will taste, of tears, when the yellow dapples
Of autumn tell the withered tale again.

All round the yard it is cluck, my brown hen,
Cluck, and the rain-wet wings,
Cluck, my marigold bird, and again
Cluck for your yellow darlings.

For the grey rat found the gold thirteen
Huddled away in the dark,
Flutter for a moment, oh the beast is quick and keen,
Extinct one yellow-fluffy spark.

Once I had a lover bright like running water,
Once his face was laughing like the sky;
Open like the sky looking down in all its laughter
On the buttercups, and the buttercups was I.

What, then, is there hidden in the skirts of all the blossom?
What is peeping from your wings, oh mother hen?
’Tis the sun who asks the question, in a lovely haste for wisdom;
What a lovely haste for wisdom is in men!

Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom,
And her shift is lying white upon the floor,
That a grey one, like a shadow, like a rat, a thief, a rain-storm,
Creeps upon her then and gathers in his store.

Oh the grey garner that is full of half-grown apples,
Oh the golden sparkles laid extinct!
And oh, behind the cloud-sheaves, like yellow autumn dapples,
Did you see the wicked sun that winked!

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Khairul Ahsan 19 December 2018

'Brackish they will taste, of tears, when the yellow dapples Of autumn tell the withered tale again.' - heart touching lines! 'What a lovely haste for wisdom is in men! ' - I am not quite clear about the relevance of this line and failed to understand what the poet wanted to mean.

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Edward Kofi Louis 19 December 2018

Like the sky looking down.....! ! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

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Ramesh T A 19 December 2018

Green apple in autumn itself shows it is yet to bloom into ripe fruit! Alas, what to do? Sad, yet full of wisdom to remember the young love in loneliness again!

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Adrian Flett 19 December 2018

'Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom.' The sadness of unrequited love. The loss which is unbearable. 'Extinct one yellow-fluffy spark'. All through the poem the vision of Ophelia floating down the stream.

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Bernard F. Asuncion 19 December 2018

A great wonderful poem by David Herbert Lawrence👍👍

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David Herbert Lawrence

David Herbert Lawrence

Nottinghamshire / England
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