English Poetry. Richard Watson Gilder. The New Day. Part 1. 4. Hesitation. Ричард Уотсон Гилдер.

Richard Watson Gilder (Ричард Уотсон Гилдер)

The New Day. Part 1. 4. Hesitation

            (A PORTRAIT)

To-day I saw the picture of a man
     ⁠Who, issuing from a wood, doth thrust apart
⁠     Strong-matted, thorny branches, whose keen smart
     ⁠He heeds in nowise, if he only can
Win the red rose a maiden, like a fan,
⁠     Holds daintily. She, listening to her heart,
⁠     Hath looked another way. Ah, would she start,
⁠     And weep, and suffer sorrow, if he ran—
For utter love of her, forever back
⁠     Into the shadows, which thrice darker were
⁠     Because her whiteness made their black more black!
A little while he waits, lest he should err.
⁠     Awhile he wonders, secretly.—Alack!
     ⁠He could so gladly die or live for her.

Richard Watson Gilder’s other poems:

1. The New Day. Part 3. 30. The Sower
2. The New Day. Part 3. 4. “What Would I Win Thee To?”
3. The New Day. Part 3. 15. Listening to Music
4. The New Day. Part 3. 22. The Lover’s Lord and Master
5. The New Day. Part 3. 23. Song (My love grew with the growing night)

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