"Aftermath" by Willa Cather

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend July 1, 2018   Aftermath   Willa Cather

Can'st thou conjure a vanished morn of spring, Or bid the ashes of the sunset glow Again to redness? Are we strong to wring From trodden grapes the juice drunk long ago? Can leafy longings stir in Autumn's blood, Or can I wear a pearl dissolved in wine, Or go a-Maying in a winter wood, Or paint with youth thy wasted cheek, or mine? What bloom, then, shall abide, since ours hath sped? Thou art more lost to me than they who dwell In Egypt's sepulchres, long ages fled; And would I touch—Ah me! I might as well Covet the gold of Helen's vanished head, Or kiss back Cleopatra from the dead!              This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   This poem was originally published in April Twilights (The Gorham Press, 1903).   Willa Cather was born in 1873 near Gore, Virginia. She was known widely for her novels and a collection of poems, April Twilights (The Gorham Press, 1903). Cather died in New York City in 1947. Poetry by Cather   April Twilights and Other Poems (Everyman's Library, 2013) "Leisure" by Amy Lowell "Old Wine" by Margaret Widdemer "After Reading 'Antony and Cleopatra'" by Robert Louis Stevenson July Guest Editor: Adrian Matejka   Thanks to Adrian Matejka, author of Map to the Stars (Penguin Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about Matejka and our guest editors for the year. Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038