Water Lilies
There is something so irresistibly sad, or melancholy, or nostalgic, about Sara Teasdale’s poem “Water Lilies” that I find absolutely haunting. Actually, none of those words – sad, melancholy, nostalgic – is quite right. And maybe that’s what I like about this poem: it evokes a feeling that’s hard to describe. Certainly absence is part of it, and the power of memory, and the imperative to be nourished by those things that are at the core of our being.
But what I also like is the sense of great need, even shared need. If you’ve forgotten water lilies floating, come back to be reminded, unafraid. But if you remember, then there is no need to come back; instead, go forth, even to those places where you will never find them, strengthened for the journey by the memory itself.
Sara Teasdale was an American poet who wrote in the early 20th century and spent most of her early life in the Midwest and then moved to New York City where she spent the rest of her life. In 1918 she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Best known for her love poetry, she also regularly draws on nature to evoke both the wonder of the natural world and the complexity of our human life in it. And that’s certainly evident here.
But for some reason – perhaps because of recent musings on the Road to Emmaus story in Luke – this poem puts me in mind not only of lilies, mountains, and desert places but also of church. We come back to worship to hear promises that sent us out into the world the previous Sunday but that we barely remember come the end of the week. We come back unafraid, even eager to be reminded, strengthened for the journey that we may go to places where those promises are scarce, even silent, to share what we remember and believe.
It can be a lonely journey at times, but like the wayfarer who is beckoned back to the water lilies on a dark lake or the two disciples met by a stranger on the road, there are moments of unexpected delight and companionship that surprise us along the way. May it be so with each of us.
Water Lilies
If you have forgotten water lilies floating
On a dark lake among mountains in the afternoon shade,
If you have forgotten their wet, sleepy fragrance,
Then you can return and not be afraid.
But if you remember, then turn away forever
To the plains and the prairies where pools are far apart,
There you will not come at dusk on closing water lilies,
And the shadow of mountains will not fall on your heart.
Sara Teasdale, 1884-1993. “Water Lillies” can be found in The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale .
Post Image: “Water Lilies,” by Claude Monet.
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