But, look, the flowers you nearly broughtHave lasted all this while.
the intentions of buying her flowers has left more of an impact other than the flower themselves. This painful feeling stays with her because this man had potential but did not live up to his promises.
then.Now I can only smile
This is a past lover. Now she can only smile at the thought of what could have been.
The shop was closed. Or you had doubts—The sort that minds like oursDream up incessantly. You thoughtI might not want your flowers
the speaker accepts his excuses on not following through. This can show that she was immersed in this man and even if he wasn't consistent she still let it go just to be with him.
And say you'd nearly brought me flowersBut something had gone wrong
This man has intentions to be thoughtful but does not follow through. He thought of doing something nice is not the same as actually doing it, and that feeling is painful.
But for the lovers, their armsRound the griefs of the ages,Who pay no praise or wagesNor heed my craft or art.
He writes for ordinary lovers who have real experience and just randomly stumble upon his work. He does not want to write for people who are fully immersed in his work because it is beautiful, he wants someone to have lived it.
Not for the proud man apartFrom the raging moon I writeOn these spindrift pagesNor for the towering deadWith their nightingales and psalms
He does not write for egotistical people who may see themselves as above everyone else, and he does not like to write about the dead.
I labour by singing lightNot for ambition or breadOr the strut and trade of charmsOn the ivory stagesBut for the common wagesOf their most secret hear
the author writes for people like himself. Ordinary people with shared experiences, capturing feelings we wish we could explain. He is not interested in a reward.
When only the moon ragesAnd the lovers lie abedWith all their griefs in their arms,
Everyone has their own baggage and grief. Lovers must embrace this and accept each other for it.
craft or sullen ar
He does not create joyous material
This close-companioned inarticulate hourWhen twofold silence was the song of love.
Even in just an hour of silence with his lover, he feels like they perfectly understand each other and this woman brings him ultimate peace.
Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edgeWhere the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn hedge
Country side setting
’Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.All round our nest, far as the eye can pass
Love can pass by just like the clouds.
Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass
Even in a moment where he wants time to stand still, time keeps moving. This scares the speaker as he wishes he could just enjoy this moment with her instead of imagining what could happen. Love fades with time.
Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms
Changes the romantic mood to something more dark.
Your hands lie open in the long, fresh grass,—The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:Your eyes smile peace.
This is a private and intimate moment between the two lovers in the poem. Her fingers being compared to "rosy blooms" shows that even in the long grass, she stands out. He describes her hands in a romantic way to symbolize that she has hands that give love.
She winters, and keeps warm her note
Even when she is gone, he still feels her warmth and presence.
Song
The speaker is a man and he is speaking to his assumed to be lover about her beauty to dodge questions he has no answers to. The circumstance is that he wants to make her happy and answer these questions for her but he does not know what to say. I believe he sees her value, and is not trying to be condescending to her curiosity.
The Phoenix builds her spicy nest;For unto you at last she flies,And in your fragrant bosom dies.
The Phoenix is a bird representative of life after death and resurrection. When this woman leaves he feels empty, and hopes for her return. Again, hinting possibly at their relationship status. Maybe they often leave and come back together after.
he fading rose;For in your beauty’s orient deep,These flowers, as in their causes, sleep
The speaker comparing her beauty to a flower is a reflection of how both flowers and people go through transition rapidly, and with that beauty fades.
For in your eyes they sit, and thereFixèd become as in their sphere.
Her eyes are too beautiful and infinite to describe.
Ask me no more
The repetition of "ask me no more" is showing that he simply does not have the answer to these questions, and he might even be asking and searching for the answer to these questions himself.
Ask me no more where Jove bestows
"Jove" can be representative of the world within ourselves. Beauty on the outside, like a flower, fades and transitions. However, the beauty within oneself never dies.
dividing
I don't really understand the use of the word "dividing" here.
he golden atoms of the day;For in pure love heaven did prepar
Could be a metaphor for the sun. We need the sun to survive as he needs her to survive. How ever, the sun comes and goes which can also give us some insight into their relationship.