Poems (Jackson)/Where?

by Helen Hunt Jackson

WHERE?

Y snowy eupatorium has dropped
Its silver threads of petals in the night;
No signal told its blossoming had stopped
Its seed-films flutter silent, ghostly white:
  No answer stirs the shining air,
  As I ask, "Where?"

Beneath the glossy leaves of winter green
Dead lily-bells lie low, and in their place
A rounded disk of pearly pink is seen,
Which tells not of the lily's fragrant grace:
  No answer stirs the shining air,
  As I ask, "Where?"

This morning's sunrise does not show to me
Seed-film or fruit of my sweet yesterday;
Like falling flowers, to realms I cannot see
Its moments floated silently away:
  No answer stirs the shining air,
  As I ask, "Where?"