In this poem, “Evening,” H.D. creates an image of flower and falling shadow to symbolize uncontrollable elements in life as we encounter both growth and decline. H.D. had a great sense of the metaphysical and the symbolic, as in her poem “Oread.”
“Evening” by H. D.
The light passes
from ridge to ridge,
from flower to flower—
the hepaticas, wide-spread
under the light
grow faint—
the petals reach inward,
the blue tips bend
toward the bluer heart
and the flowers are lost.
The cornel-buds are still white,
but shadows dart
from the cornel-roots—
black creeps from root to root,
each leaf
cuts another leaf on the grass,
shadow seeks shadow,
then both leaf
and leaf-shadow are lost.
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