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Poem-a-day

A Mystery

I do not know the ocean’s song, 
    Or what the brooklets say; 
At eve I sit and listen long, 
    I cannot learn their lay. 
But as I linger by the sea, 
    And that sweet song comes unto me, 
It seems, my love, it sings of thee.

I do not know why poppies grow, 
    Amid the wheat and rye, 
The lilies bloom as white as snow, 
    I cannot tell you why. 
But all the flowers of the spring, 
    The bees that hum, the birds that sing, 
A thought of you they seem to bring.

I cannot tell why silvery Mars, 
    Moves through the heav’ns at night; 
I cannot tell you why the stars, 
    Adorn the vault with light. 
But what sublimity I see, 
    Upon the mount, the hill, the lea, 
It brings, my love, a thought of thee.

I do not know what in your eyes, 
    That caused my heart to glow, 
And why my spirit longs and cries, 
    I vow, I do not know. 
But when you first came in my sight, 
    My slumbering soul awoke in light, 
And since the day I’ve known no night.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on October 26, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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James Ephraim McGirt

James Ephraim McGirt
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Randall Mann is the Guest Editor of August. Read or listen to a Q&A with Mann about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Psalm Paisley Rekdal 11/03/2016
From “Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus” Anaïs Duplan 11/02/2016
Weir Farm Marilyn Nelson 11/01/2016
From a Train Lynn Emanuel 10/31/2016
Coldness in Love D. H. Lawrence 10/30/2016
Crude Lament William Carlos Williams 10/29/2016
What Shines Does Not Always Need To Adam Clay 10/28/2016
The Map Marie Howe 10/26/2016
Native Memory Ansel Elkins 10/26/2016
Imperatives for Carrying On in the Aftermath Natasha Trethewey 10/25/2016

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