D. H. Lawrence’s “Green” captures a moment of awakening in which the natural world and a woman’s eyes share the same vivid color. The speaker sees dawn not as ordinary light but as apple-green, the sky as green wine held up in the sun, and the moon as a golden petal hanging between. When the woman opens her eyes, their green seems as fresh and delicate as flowers opening for the first time. The poem is not about events but about perception: everything feels new, almost unearthly, and charged with quiet wonder. The mood is dreamlike and still, yet bright with color—intimate, reverent, and a little intoxicated, as if the speaker is seeing both the woman and the morning for the first time.
Green — Summary
The dawn was apple-green, The sky was green wine held up in the sun, The moon was a golden petal between.
She opened her eyes, and green They shone, clear like flowers undone For the first time, now for the first time seen.