Sara Teasdale’s speaker stands in a fog-filled park at night, where the lamps look dim and pearled, the empty streets and misty lake gleam gold, and reflected lights tremble like sunken swords. The scene is hushed and dreamlike, and she feels beauty pressing close—she says her throat should ache with praise and she should kneel in joy. Even so, she is crying after love. She has youth, a singing voice, eyes ready for wonder, and a night that seems to adorn itself for her, yet she remains unsatisfied and almost ashamed. The refrain “Oh, beauty, are you not enough?” mixes awe with self-reproach. The mood is luminous and still but quietly aching: the lovelier the world appears, the more sharply she feels the lack of love.
Spring Night — Summary
The park is filled with night and fog, The veils are drawn about the world, The drowsy lights along the paths Are dim and pearled.
Gold and gleaming the empty streets, Gold and gleaming the misty lake, The mirrored lights like sunken swords, Glimmer and shake.
Oh, is it not enough to be Here with this beauty over me? My throat should ache with praise, and I Should kneel in joy beneath the sky. Oh, beauty are you not enough?
Why am I crying after love With youth, a singing voice and eyes To take earth's wonder with surprise? Why have I put off my pride, Why am I unsatisfied, I for whom the pensive night Binds her cloudy hair with light, I for whom all beauty burns Like incense in a million urns? Oh, beauty, are you not enough? Why am I crying after love?