[Skip Navigation]

Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Temps Perdu

Dorothy Parker

I never may turn the loop of a road
  Where sudden, ahead, the sea is lying,
But my heart drags down with an ancient load—
  My heart, that a second before was flying.

I never behold the quivering rain—
  And sweeter the rain than a lover to me—
But my heart is wild in my breast with pain;
  My heart, that was tapping contentedly.

There’s never a rose spreads new at my door
  Nor a strange bird crosses the moon at night
But I know I have known its beauty before,
  And a terrible sorrow along with the sight.

The look of a laurel tree birthed for May
  Or a sycamore bared for a new November
Is as old and as sad as my furtherest day—
  What is it, what is it, I almost remember?
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Death and Taxes | Written c. 1931
Add Keyword Tags

Separate each tag with a space. You may add as many tags as you'd like to each poem.

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

More Info

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any Internet device.