The light beats upon me.
I am startled–
a split leaf crackles on the paved floor–
I am anguished–defeated.
A slight wind shakes the seed-pods–
my thoughts are spent
as the black seeds.
My thoughts tear me,
I dread their fever.
I am scattered in its whirl.
I am scattered like
the hot shrivelled seeds.
The shriveled seeds
are split on the path–
the grass bends with dust,
the grape slips
under its cracked leaf:
yet far beyond the spent seed-pods,
and the blackened stalks of mint,
the poplar is bright on the hill,
the poplar spreads out,
deep-rooted among trees.
O poplar, you are great
among the hill-stones,
while I perish on the path
among the crevices of the rocks.
This poem is about H.D feeling inferior as a woman poet. The seeds mentioned throughout the poem are a symbol of herself and her thoughts. The seeds are scattered around in different places like her, because she is confused. The tree mentioned in the poem is a symbol of a man. Men were the main poets and writers at the time so they had more strength than her. The tree could also be a symbol for Pound, whom H.D was engaged to at one point. He also gave H.D her pen name. She could have been feeling powerless to him at the time.