Sara Teasdale’s speaker describes water lilies floating on a dark mountain lake in afternoon shade, giving off a wet, sleepy fragrance. If you have forgotten them, she says, you can go back without fear—what you cannot remember has no power over you. But if the image still lives in your mind, stay away. Travel instead to the open prairies, where pools are far apart, so you will not come upon lilies closing at dusk or feel the shadow of mountains fall across your heart. It sets a quiet, warning tone, as if the speaker is giving advice to someone heartbroken or trying to escape a haunting past. The lilies stand for a beauty so intense that remembering it becomes a kind of ache. The mood is melancholy and still, full of dusk and distance, and the only peace lies in forgetting or staying far away.
Water Lilies — Summary
If you have forgotten water lilies floating On a dark lake among mountains in the afternoon shade, If you have forgotten their wet, sleepy fragrance, Then you can return and not be afraid.
But if you remember, then turn away forever To the plains and the prairies where pools are far apart, There you will not come at dusk on closing water lilies, And the shadow of mountains will not fall on your heart.