Sara Teasdale’s “May Wind” catches a speaker in an impossible act of self-protection. The speaker has tried to shut her heart like a door, hoping that love will weaken and stop troubling her. But the season works against her. The wet May wind, the sound of street-pianos, and sunlight flooding her room all stir something she cannot contain. The final lines turn the poem into a small drama: Love itself speaks from inside her, demanding release and warning that if she keeps it locked away, it will break her heart. The mood is restless and bright—part longing, part fear of feeling too much. The speaker wants peace, but the world’s spring energy is too alive to ignore, and the poem suggests that trying to suppress love is more dangerous than letting it out.
May Wind — Summary
I said, "I have shut my heart As one shuts an open door, That Love may starve therein And trouble me no more."
But over the roofs there came The wet new wind of May, And a tune blew up from the curb Where the street-pianos play.
My room was white with the sun And Love cried out in me, "I am strong, I will break your heart Unless you set me free."