I Do Not Lament, Call Out, or Cry
I Do Not Lament, Call Out, or Cry - meaning Summary
Quiet Acceptance of Fading Youth
The poem presents a speaker facing the loss of youthful passion with calm resignation. He notices desire cooling and memories receding while nature’s cycles—apple blossom, birch, falling maples—mirror personal decline. Rather than lament, he accepts transience, recalling boyish effervescence as a distant dream. The closing benediction blesses what has bloomed and must end, suggesting dignity and quiet gratitude in embracing mortality and change.
Read Complete AnalysesI do not lament, call out, or cry. All will pass like apple-blossom smoke. Seized by golden glories of decay, I shan't see my youthful years come back. You'll no longer throb with equal passion, Weary heart touched with a subtle chill; Nor will you, green realm of birchen satin, Lure me barefoot over dale and hill . Vagrant spirit! Nowadays you scarcely Stir these lips' abiding secret blaze. Ah, goodbye, my boyish effervescence, Riot of eyes, and sentiments in spates! I've become more frugal in my yearning. My dear life, are you a dream where I In the echoes of an early morning Mount a rosy steed and gallop by? We're all mortal here without exception. Maples shed their copper on the ground. Blessed be, accept this benediction, What has come to bloom and face its end.
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