Celandines - a poem on a day of loss

Yesterday, thousands lost their lives in Japan. The immensity of what has happened is almost too much to take in. Here, after a week in tight bud, the celandines have opened at last. Bright stars of hope at the beginning of spring. For Edward Thomas, the coming of celandines reminded him of a deep and personal loss.

Celandines

Thinking of her had saddened me at first,

Until I saw the sun on the celandines lie

Redoubled, and she stood up like a flame,

A living thing, not what before I nursed,

The shadow I was growing to love almost,

The phantom, not a creature with bright eye

That I had thought never to see, once lost.

She found the celandines of February

Always before us all. Her nature and name

Were like those flowers, and now immediately

For a short swift eternity back she came,

Beautiful, happy, simply as when she wore

Her brightest bloom among the winter hues

Of all the world; and I was happy too,

Seeing the blossoms and the maiden who

Had seen them with me February`s before,

Bending to them as in and out she trod

And laughed, with locks sweeping the mossy sod.

But this was a dream: the flowers were not true,

Until I stooped to pluck from the grass there

One of five petals and I smelt the juice

Which made me sigh, remembering she was no more,

Gone like a never perfectly recalled air.

By Edward Thomas