Amy Lowell 1920
Dearest, we are like two flowers
Blooming last in a yellowing garden,
A purple aster flower and a red one
Standing alone in a withered desolation.
The garden plants are shattered and seeded,
One brittle leaf scrapes against another,
Fiddling echoes of a rush of petals
Now only you and I nodding together
Many were with us; they have all faded.
Only we are purple and crimson,
Only we in the dew-clear mornings,
Smarten into color as the sun rises.
When I scarcely see you in the fiat moonlight,
And later when my cold roots tighten,
I am anxious for the morning,
I cannot rest in fear of what may happen.
You or I.....and I am a coward.
Surely frost should take the crimson.
Purple is a finer color,
Very splendid in isolation.
So we nod above the broken
Stems of flowers almost rotted.
Many mornings there cannot be now
For us both. Ah dear,I love you !
**********
Amy Lowell was born in Massachusetts USA in 1874. Her family was wealthy and sophisticated, she was encouraged to be interested in Art and Literature. She established her new England home as a centre for for poetry and shared it with her life partner the Actress Ada Russell. Amy bred sheepdogs, wrote literary books and was particularly interested in John Keats' work; her poetry forms part of the Imagist Movement in the USA and is often compared to that of Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) an English poet writing in the UK at the same time. Her poetry was not well received by the America male poetic establishment, Ezra Pound in particular objected to Amy's lifestyle; she was fond of a cigar and wore men's shirts !
After her death in 1925 she was awarded a posthumous Pulizter Prize for her book "What's O'clock."
Further reading:
Pictures of the Floating World
Planes of Personality
Two Speak Together
From Old Dyke 12, May 2001
