The Poppy Field
By Nora May French
Beyond the tangled poppies lies a lake;
And ever sings to him who muses here
The murmur of the hidden streams and clear
That flow thereto by arching fern and break.
But never, slumber-heavy, does he wake
To heed the music calling in his ear,
Nor ever knows the water, deep and near,
Ashine with silver lilies for his sake.
And never he will heed, that love of thine;
The poppies of thy beauty drug his sleep;
Nor heedest thou that I must hear the streams,
And follow all thy crystal thought and fine,
And love at last the lilies folded deep
Within thy soul's unknown beyond his dreams.
Author's Notes/Comments:
In the fall of 1907, she sought refuge from her problems in Carmel, living with Sterling and his wife Carrie. At midnight on November 13, 1907, Nora May French took cyanide and died. A poet of great promise, she was just twenty-six-years old.
This is an abbreviated version of the A Biographical Sketch of Nora May French by Pamela Herr
Bringing the Past to Light
For an exhibition at the Lummis Home in Los Angeles, we are printing Nora May French's poem A Place of Dreams on rocks in the Lummis Home garden. Suzanne Lummis, granddaughter of Charles Lummis and noted local poet, is writing her own poem as a conversation with French. We will also print an excerpt of her poem. In addition, we are printing photos and other materials on banners that will hang from a sycamore tree. This exhibit of temporary art installations takes place May 17 - June 14 at the Lummis Home.
--Suzanne Siegel
If your curious about the site design, it was inspired by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. And in particular the image Mondrian's Composition (1930)
http://www.nora-may-french.org/
