William Carlos Williams

April

  If you had come away with me
  into another state
  we had been quiet together.
  But there the sun coming up
  out of the nothing beyond the lake was
  too low in the sky,
  there was too great a pushing
  against him,
  too much of sumac buds, pink
  in the head
  with the clear gum upon them,
  too many opening hearts of
  lilac leaves,
  too many, too many swollen
  limp poplar tassels on the
  bare branches!
  It was too strong in the air.
  I had no rest against that
  springtime!
  The pounding of the hoofs on the
  raw sods
  stayed with me half through the night.
  I awoke smiling but tired.