The First Day
I wish I could remember the first day,
First hour, first moments of your meeting me;
If bright or dim the season, it might be.
Summer or Winter for aught I can say,
So unrecorded did it slip away.
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree,
That would no blossom for many a May.
If only I could recollect it! Such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow.
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much!
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand! – Did one but knows!
-William Roetzheim. The Giant Book Of Poetry. Level Four Press Inc, 2014This poem beautifully encapsulates the bittersweet pain of hindsight in youthful love. The speaker laments her inability to appreciate the deep significance of the “first day” she encountered her beloved—a moment that “slipped away” unrecorded, akin to snow melting away.
Core Meaning:
Regret for Obliviousness: She struggles to remember sensory details (the season, the hour, the light) because the meeting felt so ordinary at that moment. Her youthful ignorance rendered her “dull to mark” the subtle “budding” of love, postponing its full bloom (“no blossom for many a May”).
Transformative Power: What “seemed to mean so little, meant so much!” – a classic irony found in love’s origin tales. The “first touch of hand in hand” now lingers in her memory as the crucial spark.
Yearning for Memory: “If only I could recollect it!” she cries out for that lost innocence, highlighting how hindsight transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Themes:
- Epiphany of Love: Life’s pivotal moments often disguise themselves as trivial.
- Time’s Cruel Lens: We only come to cherish beginnings once the relationship has matured.
- Sensory Nostalgia: The desire for vivid memories (touch, season) reflects emotional closeness.
The sonnet’s Petrarchan structure (the octave builds regret, while the sestet heightens longing) mirrors the emotional journey: from a hazy past to a clear present desire. It’s a universal gut-wrench for anyone who has ever thought, “I wish I’d known then what I know now.”
The Giant Book Of Poetry
Featuring over 750 pages of poetry that stretches from 4,000 BC to modern times, this collection encompasses a wide variety of global poetic works. Each poem is accompanied by footnotes that detail its form, clarify uncommon or outdated words, and provide insights into interpretation. With several indexes, including a subject index, locating the perfect poem for any occasion is made easy. The selected poems are designed to attract those who are new to poetry, yet even seasoned poetry enthusiasts will discover fresh and delightful pieces.
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