When the Lilac Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

When the lilac last in the dooryard bloom’d, And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night, I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

Again and again shall I bring thy message, O deep stars, The answer to my sacred longing. The earth is ever the same, As I look into the heavens.

• Walt Whitman