Fw: [Panhala] The Spring -- Delmore Schwartz (An Annual Rite)

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To: Panhala <panhala >Sent: Sun, March 20, 2011 10:05:45 PMSubject: [Panhala] The Spring -- Delmore Schwartz (An Annual Rite)

The Spring

(After Rilke)

Spring has returned! Everything has returned!The earth, just like a schoolgirl, memorizesPoems, so many poems. ... Look, she has learnedSo many famous poems, she has earned so many prizes!Teacher was strict. We delighted in the whiteOf the old man's beard, bright like the snow's:Now we may ask which names are wrong, or rightFor "blue," for "apple," for "ripe." She knows, she knows!Lucky earth, let out of school, now you must playHide-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 thingsYou taught her: the word for "hope," and for "believe,"Are still upon her tongue. She sings and sings and sings.

~ Delmore Schwartz ~

(Last & Lost Poems)

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