Chapter 2

Come, when the pale moon like a petal Floats in the pearly dusk of spring, Come with arms outstretched to take me, Come with lips pursed up to cling.

Come, for life is a frail moth flying, Caught in the web of the years that pass, And soon we two, so warm and eager, Will be as the gray stones in the grass.

Joy

I am wild, I will sing to the trees, I will sing to the stars in the sky, I love, I am loved, he is mine, Now at last I can die!

I am sandaled with wind and with flame, I have heart-fire and singing to give, I can tread on the grass or the stars, Now at last I can live!

Riches

I have no riches but my thoughts, Yet these are wealth enough for me; My thoughts of you are golden coins Stamped in the mint of memory;

And I must spend them all in song, For thoughts, as well as gold, must be Left on the hither side of death To gain their immortality.

Dusk in War Time

A half-hour more and you will lean To gather me close in the old sweet way-- But oh, to the woman over the sea Who will come at the close of day?

A half-hour more and I will hear The key in the latch and the strong, quick tread-- But oh, the woman over the sea Waiting at dusk for one who is dead!

Peace

Peace flows into me As the tide to the pool by the shore; It is mine forevermore, It will not ebb like the sea.

I am the pool of blue That worships the vivid sky; My hopes were heaven-high, They are all fulfilled in you.

I am the pool of gold When sunset burns and dies-- You are my deepening skies; Give me your stars to hold.

Moods

I am the still rain falling, Too tired for singing mirth-- Oh, be the green fields calling, Oh, be for me the earth!

I am the brown bird pining To leave the nest and fly-- Oh, be the fresh cloud shining, Oh, be for me the sky!

Houses of Dreams

You took my empty dreams And filled them every one With tenderness and nobleness, April and the sun.

The old empty dreams Where my thoughts would throng Are far too full of happiness To even hold a song.

Oh, the empty dreams were dim And the empty dreams were wide, They were sweet and shadowy houses Where my thoughts could hide.

But you took my dreams away And you made them all come true-- My thoughts have no place now to play, And nothing now to do.

Lights

When we come home at night and close the door, Standing together in the shadowy room, Safe in our own love and the gentle gloom, Glad of familiar wall and chair and floor,

Glad to leave far below the clanging city; Looking far downward to the glaring street Gaudy with light, yet tired with many feet, In both of us wells up a wordless pity;

Men have tried hard to put away the dark; A million lighted windows brilliantly Inlay with squares of gold the winter night, But to us standing here there comes the stark Sense of the lives behind each yellow light, And not one wholly joyous, proud, or free.

"I Am Not Yours"

I am not yours, not lost in you, Not lost, although I long to be Lost as a candle lit at noon, Lost as a snowflake in the sea.

You love me, and I find you still A spirit beautiful and bright, Yet I am I, who long to be Lost as a light is lost in light.

Oh plunge me deep in love--put out My senses, leave me deaf and blind, Swept by the tempest of your love, A taper in a rushing wind.

Doubt

My soul lives in my body's house, And you have both the house and her-- But sometimes she is less your own Than a wild, gay adventurer; A restless and an eager wraith, How can I tell what she will do-- Oh, I am sure of my body's faith, But what if my soul broke faith with you?

The Wind

A wind is blowing over my soul, I hear it cry the whole night through-- Is there no peace for me on earth Except with you?

Alas, the wind has made me wise, Over my naked soul it blew,-- There is no peace for me on earth Even with you.

Morning

I went out on an April morning All alone, for my heart was high, I was a child of the shining meadow, I was a sister of the sky.

There in the windy flood of morning Longing lifted its weight from me, Lost as a sob in the midst of cheering, Swept as a sea-bird out to sea.

Other Men

When I talk with other men I always think of you-- Your words are keener than their words, And they are gentler, too.

When I look at other men, I wish your face were there, With its gray eyes and dark skin And tossed black hair.

When I think of other men, Dreaming alone by day, The thought of you like a strong wind Blows the dreams away.

Embers

I said, "My youth is gone Like a fire beaten out by the rain, That will never sway and sing Or play with the wind again."

I said, "It is no great sorrow That quenched my youth in me, But only little sorrows Beating ceaselessly."

I thought my youth was gone, But you returned-- Like a flame at the call of the wind It leaped and burned;

Threw off its ashen cloak, And gowned anew Gave itself like a bride Once more to you.

Message

I heard a cry in the night, A thousand miles it came, Sharp as a flash of light, My name, my name!

It was your voice I heard, You waked and loved me so-- I send you back this word, I know, I know!

The Lamp

If I can bear your love like a lamp before me, When I go down the long steep Road of Darkness, I shall not fear the everlasting shadows, Nor cry in terror.

If I can find out God, then I shall find Him, If none can find Him, then I shall sleep soundly, Knowing how well on earth your love sufficed me, A lamp in darkness.

IV

A November Night

There! See the line of lights, A chain of stars down either side the street-- Why can't you lift the chain and give it to me, A necklace for my throat? I'd twist it round And you could play with it. You smile at me As though I were a little dreamy child Behind whose eyes the fairies live. . . . And see, The people on the street look up at us All envious. We are a king and queen, Our royal carriage is a motor bus, We watch our subjects with a haughty joy. . . . How still you are! Have you been hard at work And are you tired to-night? It is so long Since I have seen you--four whole days, I think. My heart is crowded full of foolish thoughts Like early flowers in an April meadow, And I must give them to you, all of them, Before they fade. The people I have met, The play I saw, the trivial, shifting things That loom too big or shrink too little, shadows That hurry, gesturing along a wall, Haunting or gay--and yet they all grow real And take their proper size here in my heart When you have seen them. . . . There's the Plaza now, A lake of light! To-night it almost seems That all the lights are gathered in your eyes, Drawn somehow toward you. See the open park Lying below us with a million lamps Scattered in wise disorder like the stars. We look down on them as God must look down On constellations floating under Him Tangled in clouds. . . . Come, then, and let us walk Since we have reached the park. It is our garden, All black and blossomless this winter night, But we bring April with us, you and I; We set the whole world on the trail of spring. I think that every path we ever took Has marked our footprints in mysterious fire, Delicate gold that only fairies see. When they wake up at dawn in hollow tree-trunks And come out on the drowsy park, they look Along the empty paths and say, "Oh, here They went, and here, and here, and here! Come, see, Here is their bench, take hands and let us dance About it in a windy ring and make A circle round it only they can cross When they come back again!" . . . Look at the lake-- Do you remember how we watched the swans That night in late October while they slept? Swans must have stately dreams, I think. But now The lake bears only thin reflected lights That shake a little. How I long to take One from the cold black water--new-made gold To give you in your hand! And see, and see, There is a star, deep in the lake, a star! Oh, dimmer than a pearl--if you stoop down Your hand could almost reach it up to me. . . .

There was a new frail yellow moon to-night-- I wish you could have had it for a cup With stars like dew to fill it to the brim. . . .

How cold it is! Even the lights are cold; They have put shawls of fog around them, see! What if the air should grow so dimly white That we would lose our way along the paths Made new by walls of moving mist receding The more we follow. . . . What a silver night! That was our bench the time you said to me The long new poem--but how different now, How eerie with the curtain of the fog Making it strange to all the friendly trees! There is no wind, and yet great curving scrolls Carve themselves, ever changing, in the mist. Walk on a little, let me stand here watching To see you, too, grown strange to me and far. . . . I used to wonder how the park would be If one night we could have it all alone-- No lovers with close arm-encircled waists To whisper and break in upon our dreams. And now we have it! Every wish comes true! We are alone now in a fleecy world; Even the stars have gone. We two alone!

[End of Love Songs.]

{As an item of interest to the reader, the following, which was at the end of this edition, is included. Only the advertisement for the same author is included}.

By the same author

Rivers to the Sea

"There is hardly another American woman-poet whose poetry is generally known and loved like that of Sara Teasdale. 'Rivers to the Sea', her latest volume of lyrics, possesses the delicacy of imagery, the inward illumination, the high vision that characterize the poetry that will endure the test of time."--'Review of Reviews'.

"'Rivers to the Sea' is a book of sheer delight. . . . Her touch turns everything to song."--Edward J. Wheeler, in 'Current Opinion'.

"Sara Teasdale's lyrics have the clarity, the precision, the grace and fragrance of flowers."--Harriet Monroe, in 'Poetry'.

"Sara Teasdale has a genius for the song, for the perfect lyric, in which the words seem to have fallen into place without art or effort."--Louis Untermeyer, in 'The Chicago Evening Post'.

"'Rivers to the Sea' is the best book of pure lyrics that has appeared in English since A. E. Housman's 'A Shropshire Lad'."--William Marion Reedy, in 'The Mirror'.

"'Rivers to the Sea' is the most beautiful book of pure lyrics that has come to my hand in years."--'Los Angeles Graphic'.

"Sara Teasdale sings about love better than any other contemporary American poet."--'The Boston Transcript'.

"'Rivers to the Sea' is the most charming volume of poetry that has appeared on either side of the Atlantic in a score of years."--'St. Louis Republic'.

Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):

Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where she attended a school that was founded by the grandfather of another great poet from St. Louis--T. S. Eliot. She later associated herself more with New York City.

Her first book of poems was "Sonnets to Duse" (1907), [at least one poem in the current volume, "Faults", is from this book,] but "Helen of Troy" (1911) was the true launch of her career, followed by "Rivers to the Sea" (1915), "Love Songs" (1917), "Flame and Shadow" (1920) and more. Her final volume, "Strange Victory", is considered by many to be predictive of her suicide in 1933.