Part 4

When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet: And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

_Christina Rossetti_

REQUIESCAT

Bury me deep when I am dead, Far from the woods where sweet birds sing; Lap me in sullen stone and lead, Lest my poor dust should feel the Spring.

Never a flower be near me set, Nor starry cup nor slender stem, Anemone nor violet, Lest my poor dust remember them.

And you--wherever you may fare-- Dearer than birds, or flowers, or dew-- Never, ah me, pass never there, Lest my poor dust should dream of you.

_Rosamund Marriott Watson_

“DOUGLAS, DOUGLAS, TENDER AND TRUE”

Could ye come back to me, Douglas, Douglas, In the old likeness that I knew, I would be so faithful, so loving, Douglas, Douglas, Douglas, tender and true.

Never a scornful word should grieve ye, I’d smile on ye sweet as the angels do;-- Sweet as your smile on me shone ever, Douglas, Douglas, tender and true.

Oh, to call back the days that are not! My eyes were blinded, your words were few; Do you know the truth now up in heaven, Douglas, Douglas, tender and true?

I never was worthy of you, Douglas; Not half worthy the like of you: Now all men beside seem to me like shadows-- I love you, Douglas, tender and true.

Stretch out your hand to me, Douglas, Douglas, Drop forgiveness from heaven like dew; As I lay my heart on your dead heart, Douglas, Douglas, Douglas, tender and true.

_Dinah Mulock Craik_

UNWEDDED

Along her tranquil way she went, The slow, sad course of changeless years, While in her burned her youth unspent, Dulled sometimes by her gentle tears.

In richer lives she saw the strange, Sweet urgency of wedded days; In dreams she watched her pale light change, Into the steadfast altar blaze.

And, waking, sadly bowed above Her slender vestal flame and wept; Ah, better were the house of love, By blighting fire and tempest swept.

_Ada Foster Murray_

UNFULFILLED

I read the pain and pathos of your eyes, The aftermath of anguish in your smile, And yet I can but envy you the while! Your heart has bled, an ardent sacrifice To Love’s fulfillment. You have paid the price Of keen, fierce living; nor can aught defile The joys that once have been--they still beguile The tear-swept memory that Time defies.

My soul’s adventure, pallid, incomplete, Has lingered in the twilight, for my heart Has dwelt aloof in some dim atmosphere Betwixt the Earth and Heaven. My alien feet Have known nor Pain nor its great counterpart. I, who have never loved, may shed no tear.

_Corinne Roosevelt Robinson_

A LYNMOUTH WIDOW

He was straight and strong, and his eyes were blue As the summer meeting of sky and sea, And the ruddy cliffs had a colder hue Than flushed his cheek when he married me.

We passed the porch where the swallows breed, We left the little brown church behind, And I leaned on his arm, though I had no need, Only to feel him so strong and kind.

One thing I never can quite forget; It grips my throat when I try to pray-- The keen salt smell of a drying net That hung on the churchyard wall that day.

He would have taken a long, long grave-- A long, long grave, for he stood so tall.... Oh, God! the crash of a breaking wave, And the smell of the nets on the churchyard wall!

_Amelia Josephine Burr_

“LESS THAN THE DUST”

Less than the dust, beneath thy Chariot wheel, Less than the rust, that never stained thy Sword, Less than the trust thou hast in me, O Lord, Even less than these!

Less than the weed, that grows beside thy door, Less than the speed of hours spent far from thee, Less than the need thou hast in life of me. Even less am I.

Since I, O Lord, am nothing unto thee, See here thy Sword, I make it keen and bright, Love’s last reward, Death, comes to me to-night, Farewell, Zahir-u-din.

_Laurence Hope_

NORAH

I knew his house by the poplar trees-- Green and silvery in the breeze;

“A heaven-high hedge,” were the words he said, “And holly-hocks--pink and white and red....”

It seemed so far from McChesney’s Hall Where first he told me about it all....

A long path runs inside from the gate, He still can take it early or late;

But where in the world is a path for me-- Except the river that runs to the sea!

_Zoë Akins_

THE MAN

The flame is spent, I can no more Hold the tall candle by your door; Too often have I watched to see Your lagging steps come home to me.

The Tyrian traders taught me this: They came perfumed with ambergris, With amethystine robes, and hair Curled by the kisses of salt air.

They mocked me for my weary hands Holding your light as love demands; They sang the lure of poppied sleep, Their lips were warm, their eyes were deep.

The flame is spent--your pale, weak face Must seek another resting place; Win me and hold me now who can-- The Tyrian trader was a man.

_Helen Hay Whitney_

“UNDER DUSKY LAUREL LEAF”

Under dusky laurel leaf, Scarlet leaf of rose, I lie prone, who have known All a woman knows--

Love and grief and motherhood, Fame and mirth and scorn; These are all shall befall Any woman born.

Jewel-laden are my hands, Tall my stone above; Do not weep that I sleep Who was wise in love;

Where I walk a shadow gray Through gray asphodel, I am glad, who have had All that Life could tell.

_Margaret Widdemer_

INDEXES

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

Across the shimmering meadows, 34

After the fierce midsummer all ablaze, 84

Against the planks of the cabin side, 73

Ah, Love, I cannot die, I cannot go, 77

All the ghosts I ever knew, 102

Along her tranquil way she went, 116

And if I came not again, 54

And ye sall walk in silk attire, 92

As a little child I come, 40

As the mother bird to the waiting nest, 24

At Loschwitz above the city, 2

Be not angry with me that I bear, 27

Before I trust my fate to thee, 47

Belovèd, my belovèd, when I think, 26

Bury me deep when I am dead, 113

_Carnations and my first love!_ and he was seventeen, 97

Come back to me, who wait and watch for you, 69

Could ye come back to me, Douglas, Douglas, 114

Cover mine eyes, O my Love!, 35

Dear Love, it was so hard to say, 83

Even for you I shall not weep, 107

Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand, 64

Good-bye!--no, do not grieve that it is over, 66

Grandmither, think not I forget, when I come back to town, 108

He was straight and strong, and his eyes were blue, 118

He whistled soft whistlings I knew were for me, 14

Hill people turn to their hills, 23

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways, 43

I am the Other--I who come, 86

I am the wind that wavers, 80

I came into your room and spoke, 58

I cannot always feel his greatness, 37

I have always hated the rain, 29

I have seen the proudest stars, 3

I have wandered to a spring in the forest green and dim, 5

I knew his house by the poplar trees, 120

I leaned out my window, I smelt the white clover, 31

I love my life, but not too well, 59

I love thee, dear, and knowing mine own heart, 51

I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong, 65

I must not yield ... but if he would not sing!, 63

I read the pain and pathos of your eyes, 117

I sat among the green leaves, and heard the nuts falling, 13

I say it to comfort me over and over, 72

I’ve learned to say it carelessly, 30

I went out to the farthest meadow, 8

I went to dig a grave for Love, 67

I will arise and go hence to the west, 10

I will not give thee all my heart, 56

If I could only serve him, 81

If thou must love me, let it be for nought, 41

It is so long gone by, and yet, 99

Less than the dust, beneath thy Chariot wheel, 119

Let us forget we loved each other much, 76

Love came back at fall o’ dew, 90

Love has gone and left me and the days are all alike, 70

Love me at last, or if you will not, 6

Many in aftertimes will say of you, 78

My Dear was a mason, 36

My debt to you, Belovèd, 46

My heart is like a singing bird, 17

My life closed twice before its close, 53

Never the nightingale, 100

Now evening comes. Now stirs my discontent, 68

O my Lover, blind me, 42

O strong sun of heaven, harm not my love, 21

Of all the souls that stand create, 19

Oh, have you not a message, you who come over the sea?, 85

Oh! I know why the alder trees, 39

Oh, maybe it was yesterday, or fifty years ago!, 94

Oh, the burden, the burden of love ungiven, 12

Oh, when I saw your eyes, 18

Out of the window the trees in the Square, 7

Pines, and a blur of lithe young grasses, 91

Rain, rain,--fall, fall, 33

So beautiful you are, indeed, 20

Somewhere or other there must surely be, 1

Step lightly across the floor, 111

Such special sweetness was about, 52

The flame is spent, I can no more, 121

The hills far-off were blue, blue, 15

The love of my life came not, 103

There is a strong wall about me to protect me, 22

There is no one beside thee, and no one above thee, 62

There was a garden planned in Spring’s young days, 11

To-day I went among the mountain folk, 101

Under dusky laurel leaf, 122

Walk into the world, 60

What good is there, ah me, what good in Love?, 75

When I am dead, my dearest, 112

When I go away from you, 44

When on the marge of evening the last blue light is broken, 25

When the sheep are in the fauld, when the kye’s come hame, 104

When we shall be dust in the churchyard, 79

Whose doorway was it, in the sordid street, 88

Why didst thou come into my life so late?, 96

Yet for one rounded moment I will be, 61

You ask me what--since we must part, 57

You need not say one word to me, as up the hill we go, 49

You say there is no love, my love, 45

INDEX OF AUTHORS

AKINS, ZOË, 33, 80, 120

ALDRICH, ANNE REEVE, 67

BARKER, ELSA, 39

BARNARD, ANNE, 104

BLAMIRE, SUSANNA, 92

BRANCH, ANNA HEMPSTEAD, 81

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT, 26, 41, 43, 62, 64

BURR, AMELIA JOSEPHINE, 51, 118

CARBERY, ETHNA, 86

CATHER, WILLA SIBERT, 34, 108

CHESSON, NORA, 10

COATES, FLORENCE EARLE, 24

COLBY, VINE, 88

CONKLING, GRACE HAZARD, 56

CORBIN, ALICE, 6

CRAIK, DINAH MULOCK, 114

CRAPSEY, ADELAIDE, 100

DARGAN, OLIVE TILFORD, 101

DAVIES, MARY CAROLYN, 22

DAVIS, FANNIE STEARNS, 49, 54

DICKINSON, EMILY, 19, 53

DORR, JULIA C. R., 96

DUDLEY, HELEN, 3

EWING, JULIANA HORATIA, 57

FRENCH, NORA MAY, 63, 68

GARRISON, THEODOSIA, 72

GUINEY, LOUISE IMOGEN, 25

HARDING, RUTH GUTHRIE, 91

HOPE, LAURENCE, 73, 119

HOYT, HELEN, 14

INGELOW, JEAN, 31

LEE, MUNA, 79

LEVY, AMY, 2, 99

LOWELL, AMY, 27, 44

MCCOURT, EDNA WAHLERT, 5

MCLEOD, IRENE RUTHERFORD, 20, 40

MEYNELL, ALICE, 65

MILLAY, EDNA ST. VINCENT, 70

MONROE, HARRIET, 59, 66

MURRAY, ADA FOSTER, 116

NAIDU, SAROJINI, 35

NORTON, GRACE FALLOW, 8, 12, 45

O’NEILL, MOIRA, 94

PALMER, ALICE FREEMAN, 83

PARRISH, WILLIAMINA, 30

PEABODY, JOSEPHINE PRESTON, 15, 18

PICKTHALL, MARJORIE L. C., 13

PROCTER, ADELAIDE ANNE, 47

REESE, LIZETTE WOODWORTH, 52, 90, 102

RITTENHOUSE, JESSIE B., 46

ROBINSON, A. MARY F., 7, 75, 76, 77

ROBINSON, CORINNE ROOSEVELT, 117

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA, 1, 17, 69, 78, 112

SACKVILLE, MARGARET, 85

THOMAS, EDITH M., 11, 103, 111

TIETJENS, EUNICE, 37

TYNAN, KATHARINE, 58

UNTERMEYER, JEAN STARR, 29, 60

WATSON, ROSAMUND MARRIOTT, 107, 113

WHARTON, EDITH, 61

WHITNEY, HELEN HAY, 121

WICKHAM, ANNA, 36, 42

WIDDEMER, MARGARET, 97, 122

WILCOX, ELLA WHEELER, 84

WILKINSON, FLORENCE, 23

WILKINSON, MARGUERITE, 21

The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS U · S · A

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.