Friday Poetry: Anna Seward

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has had a good week so far and have some fun plans for the weekend.

My chosen poem today is by the Romantic poet Anna Seward (1742-1809).

Sonnet: To the Poppy

While summer roses all their glory yield
To crown the votary of love and joy,
Misfortune's victim hails, with many a sigh,
Thee, scarlet Poppy of the pathless field,
Gaudy, yet wild and lone; no leaf to shield
Thy flaccid vest that, as the gale blows high, 
Flaps, and alternate folds around thy head.
So stands in the long grass a love-crazed maid,
Smiling aghast; while stream to every wind
Her garish ribbons, smeared with dust and rain;
But brain-sick visions cheat her tortured mind,
And bring false peace. Thus, lulling grief and pain,
Kind dreams oblivious from thy juice proceed,
Thou, flimsy, showy, melancholy weed.

Anna Seward

Happy Reading