The speaker is a flower peddler who has come from the countryside carrying larkspur, roses, lilies, and lavender. She goes door to door through hot city streets, calling out to sell them, but the sun beats down and street dust blows over her basket. By night, she has no real bed; she sleeps on the open seats of a circus after the crowd has gone. The mood is tired, lonely, and slightly sorrowful. There is a sharp contrast between the fresh, delicate flowers from the country and the harsh, dusty city, just as there is a contrast between the peddler’s quiet exhaustion and the circus’s daytime brightness and painted clown. Her flowers seem as out of place as she is, and the poem leaves a sense of fragile beauty worn down by a hard world.
The Peddler of Flowers — Summary
I CAME from the country With flowers, Larkspur and roses, Fretted lilies In their leaves, And long, cool lavender.
I carried them From house to house. And cried them Down hot streets.
The sun fell Upon my flowers. And the dust of the streets Blew over my basket.
That night I slept upon the open seats Of a circus. Where all day long People had watched The antics Of a painted clown.