Dream Song

by Sara Teasdale — a poem card from Justes Mots

A parallel narrative of unintentional harm in which both a delicate flower and passionate love are destroyed through excessive care and mismatched conditions. Teasdale uses botanical imagery to suggest that love's intensity can inadvertently cause damage when the beloved cannot sustain such fervent devotion. Suitable for grief and loss occasions.

I plucked a snow-drop in the spring,
And in my hand too closely pressed;
The warmth had hurt the tender thing,
I grieved to see it withering.
I gave my love a poppy red,
And laid it on her snow-cold breast;
But poppies need a warmer bed,
We wept to find the flower was dead.…

Themes: sympathy · grief · love · reflection