D. H. Lawrence’s “Anxiety” describes a moment of suspended waiting. A frosty morning is beginning to melt; steam from a train vanishes, and two black birds glide past the window. The speaker watches a red bicycle approach along an empty road, expecting the rider to stop at the gate. When he passes by, the speaker is not sure what he feels. Part of him might be relieved, but the stronger feeling is a bruise-like sadness that the woman with him is still not at peace. The poem leaves the exact worry unnamed, which makes the anxiety feel more intimate and unresolved. The imagery of thawing frost and melting steam works like the speaker’s emotions: hard tension softening only into another kind of ache. The mood is quiet, restless, and full of careful watching.
Anxiety — Summary
The hoar-frost crumbles in the sun, The crisping steam of a train Melts in the air, while two black birds Sweep past the window again.
Along the vacant road, a red Bicycle approaches; I wait In a thaw of anxiety, for the boy To leap down at our gate.
He has passed us by; but is it Relief that starts in my breast? Or a deeper bruise of knowing that still She has no rest.