Now this particular
During a ceremonious april
With her latest
Found herself, of a sudden, intolerably
By the bird's irregular
And the leaves' litter.
By this tumult afflicted,
Observed her lover's gestures unbalance the air,
His gait stray
Through a rank wilderness of fern and flower;
She judged petals in disarray,
The whole season, sloven.
How she longed for winter then!-Scrupulously austere in its
Of white and
Ice and rock; each sentiment within border,
And heart's frosty
Exact as a snowflake.
But here - a
Unruly enough to pitch her five queenly
Into vulgar motley-A treason not to be borne; let
Reel giddy in bedlam spring;
She withdrew neatly.
And round her house she
Such a barricade of barb and
Against mutinous
As no mere insurgent man could hope to
With curse, fist,
Or love, either.
A French translation of this poem with the title Celibataire can be found elsewhere on the classical poetry section of
Plath
