Hemlock Furrows
I O crownless soul of Ishmael! Uplifting and unfolding the white tent of dreams against the sunless base of eternity! Looking up through thy dumb desolation for white hands to reach out over the shadows, downward, from the golden bastions of God’s eternal Citadel! Praying for Love to unloose the blushing bindings of his […]
Genius
“Where’er there’s a life to be kindled by love, Wherever a soul to inspire, Strike this key-note of God that trembles above Night’s silver-tongued voices of fire.” Genius is power. The power that grasps in the universe, that dives out beyond space, and grapples with the starry worlds of heaven. If genius achieves nothing, […]
Fragment
“Oh! I am sick of what I am. Of all Which I in life can ever hope to be. Angels of light be pitiful to me.” The cold chain of life presseth heavily on me tonight. The thundering pace of thought is curbed, and, like a fiery steed, dasheth against the gloomy walls of […]
Dying
I Leave me; oh! leave me, Lest I find this low earth sweeter than the skies. Leave me lest I deem Faith’s white bosom bared to the betraying arms of Death. Hush your fond voice, lest it shut out the angel trumpet-call! See my o’erwearied feet bleed for rest. Loose the clinging and the […]
Dreams Beauty
Visions of Beauty, of Light, and of Love, Born in the soul of a Dream, Lost, like the phantom-bird under the dove, When she flies over a stream- Come ye through portals where angel wings droop, Moved by the heaven of sleep? Or, are ye mockeries, crazing a soul, Doomed with its waking to […]
Depths
I Lost-lost-lost! To me, for ever, the seat near the blood of the feast. To me, for ever, the station near the Throne of Love! To me, for ever, the Kingdom of Heaven-and I the least. Oh, the least in love- The least in joy- The least in life- The least in death- The […]
Battle Stars
Alone on the hill of storms The voice of the wind shrieks through the mountain. The torrent rushes down the rocks. Red are hundred streams of the light-covered paths of the dead. Shield me in from the storm, I that am a daughter of the stars, and wear the purple and gold of bards, […]
Aspiration
Poor, impious Soul! that fixes its high hopes In the dim distance, on a throne of clouds, And from the morning’s mist would make the ropes To draw it up amid acclaim of crowds- Beware! That soaring path is lined with shrouds; And he who braves it, though of sturdy breath, May meet, half […]
Answer Me
I In from the night. The storm is lifting his black arms up to the sky. Friend of my heart, who so gently marks out the lifetrack for me, draw near to-night; Forget the wailing of the low-voiced wind: Shut out the moanings of the freezing, and the starving, and the dying, and bend […]
Adelina Patti
Thou Pleiad of the lyric world Where Pasta, Garcia shone, Come back with thy sweet voice again, And gem the starry zone. Though faded, still the vision sees The loveliest child of night, The fairest of the Pleiades, Its glory and its light. How fell with music from thy tongue The picture which it […]
Youth And The Pilgrim by Sara Teasdale
Gray pilgrim, you have journeyed far, I pray you tell to me Is there a land where Love is not, By shore of any sea? For I am weary of the god, And I would flee from him Tho’ I must take a ship and go Beyond the ocean’s rim. “I know a port where […]
Triolets by Sara Teasdale
Before a lonely shrine Of foam-born Aphrodite, Ungarlanded of vine, Undyed by dripping wine, I brought green bay to twine, And prayed to her, almighty, – And lo, the prayer of mine Was heard of Aphrodite. I sang of answered prayer, And now before the goddess, The maids lay flowers rare, And she has ceased […]
To L. R. E. by Sara Teasdale
When first I saw you – felt you take my hand, I could not speak for happiness to find How more than all they said your heart was kind, How strong you were, and quick to understand – I dared not say: “I who am least of those Who call you friend – I love […]
To A Picture Of Eleanor Duse by Sara Teasdale
Was ever any face like this before – So light a veiling for the soul within, So pure and yet so pitiful for sin? They say the soul will pass the Heavy Door, And yearning upward, learn creation’s lore – The body buried ‘neath the earthly din. But thine shall live forever, it hath been […]
To A Castillan Song by Sara Teasdale
We held the book together timidly, Whose antique music in an alien tongue Once rose among the dew-drenched vines that hung Beneath a high Castilian balcony. I felt the lute strings’ ancient ecstasy, And while he read, my love-filled heart was stung, And throbbed, as where an ardent bird has clung The branches tremble on […]
Since There Is No Escape by Sara Teasdale
SINCE there is no escape, since at the end My body will be utterly destroyed, This hand I love as I have loved a friend, This body I tended, wept with and enjoyed; Since there is no escape even for me Who love life with a love too sharp to bear: The scent of orchards […]
The Wine by Sara Teasdale
I CANNOT die, who drank delight From the cup of the crescent moon, And hungrily as men eat bread, Loved the scented nights of June. The rest may die-but is there not Some shining strange escape for me Who sought in Beauty the bright wine Of immortality? ————— The End And that’s the End of […]
The Wind by Sara Teasdale
A wind is blowing over my soul, I hear it cry the whole night thro’ – 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. ————— The End […]
The Wind In The Hemlock by Sara Teasdale
STEELY stars and moon of brass, How mockingly you watch me pass! You know as well as I how soon I shall be blind to stars and moon, Deaf to the wind in the hemlock tree, Dumb when the brown earth weighs on me. With envious dark rage I bear, Stars, your cold complacent stare; […]
The Wayfarer by Sara Teasdale
Love entered in my heart one day, A sad, unwelcome guest; But when he begged that he might stay, I let him wait and rest. He broke my sleep with sorrowing, And shook my dreams with tears, And when my heart was fain to sing, He stilled its joy with fears. But now that he […]
The Wanderer by Sara Teasdale
I saw the sunset-colored sands, The Nile, like flowing fire between, Where Ramses stares forth serene And ammon’s heavy temple stands. I saw the rocks where long ago, Above the sea that cries and breaks, Bright Perseus with Medusa’s snakes Set free the maiden white like snow. And many skies have covered me, And many […]
The Voice by Sara Teasdale
ATOMS as old as stars, Mutation on mutation, Millions and millions of cells Dividing yet still the same, From air and changing earth, From ancient Eastern rivers, From turquoise tropic seas, Unto myself I came. My spirit like my flesh Sprang from a thousand sources, From cave-man, hunter and shepherd, From Karnak, Cyprus, Rome; The […]
The Unseen by Sara Teasdale
DEATH went up the hall Unseen by every one, Trailing twilight robes Past the nurse and the nun. He paused at every door And listened to the breath Of those who did not know How near they were to Death. Death went up the hall Unseen by nurse and nun; He passed by many a […]
The Unchanging by Sara Teasdale
SUN-SWEPT beaches with a light wind blowing From the immense blue circle of the sea, And the soft thunder where long waves whiten- These were the same for Sappho as for me. Two thousand years-much has gone by forever, Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men- But here on the beaches that […]
The Tree by Sara Teasdale
OH to be free of myself, With nothing left to remember, To have my heart as bare As a tree in December; Resting, as a tree rests After its leaves are gone, Waiting no more for a rain at night Nor for the red at dawn; But still, oh so still While the winds come […]
The Tree Of Song by Sara Teasdale
I sang my songs for the rest, For you I am still; The tree of my song is bare On its shining hill. For you came like a lordly wind, And the leaves were whirled Far as forgotten things Past the rim of the world. The tree of my song stands bare Against the blue […]
The Treasure by Sara Teasdale
WHEN they see my songs They will sigh and say, “Poor soul, wistful soul, Lonely night and day.” They will never know All your love for me Surer than the spring, Stronger than the sea; Hidden out of sight Like a miser’s gold In forsaken fields Where the wind is cold. ————— The End And […]
The Storm by Sara Teasdale
I THOUGHT of you when I was wakened By a wind that made me glad and afraid Of the rushing, pouring sound of the sea That the great trees made. One thought in my mind went over and over While the darkness shook and the leaves were thinned- I thought it was you who had […]
The Star by Sara Teasdale
A WHITE star born in the evening glow Looked to the round green world below, And saw a pool in a wooded place That held like a jewel her mirrored face. She said to the pool: “Oh, wondrous deep, I love you, I give you my light to keep. Oh, more profound than the moving […]
The Song Maker by Sara Teasdale
I made a hundred little songs That told the joy and pain of love, And sang them blithely, tho’ I knew No whit thereof. I was a weaver deaf and blind; A miracle was wrought for me, But I have lost my skill to weave Since I can see. For while I sang – ah […]
The Song For Colin by Sara Teasdale
I sang a song at dusking time Beneath the evening star, And Terence left his latest rhyme To answer from afar. Pierrot laid down his lute to weep, And sighed, “She sings for me,” But Colin slept a careless sleep Beneath an apple tree. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry […]
The Solitary by Sara Teasdale
My heart has grown rich with the passing of years, I have less need now than when I was young To share myself with every comer Or shape my thoughts into words with my tongue. It is one to me that they come or go If I have myself and the drive of my will, […]
The Silent Battle by Sara Teasdale
(In Memory of J. W. T. Jr.) HE was a soldier in that fight Where there is neither flag nor drum, And without sound of musketry The stealthy foemen come. Year in, year out, by day and night They forced him to a slow retreat, And for his gallant fight alone No fife was blown, […]
The Shrine by Sara Teasdale
There is no lord within my heart, Left silent as an empty shrine Where rose and myrtle intertwine, Within a place apart. No god is there of carven stone To watch with still approving eyes My thoughts like steady incense rise; I dream and weep alone. But if I keep my altar fair, Some morning […]
The Sea Wind by Sara Teasdale
I am a pool in a peaceful place, I greet the great sky face to face, I know the stars and the stately moon And the wind that runs with rippling shoon- But why does it always bring to me The far-off, beautiful sound of the sea? The marsh-grass weaves me a wall of green, […]
The Sanctuary by Sara Teasdale
IF I could keep my innermost Me Fearless, aloof and free Of the least breath of love or hate, And not disconsolate At the sick load of sorrow laid on men; If I could keep a sanctuary there Free even of prayer, If I could do this, then, With quiet candor as I grew more […]
The Rose by Sara Teasdale
Beneath my chamber window Pierrot was singing, singing; I heard his lute the whole night thru Until the east was red. Alas, alas Pierrot, I had no rose for flinging Save one that drank my tears for dew Before its leaves were dead. I found it in the darkness, I kissed it once and threw […]
The Rose And The Bee by Sara Teasdale
IF I were a bee and you were a rose, Would you let me in when the gray wind blows? Would you hold your petals wide apart, Would you let me in to find your heart, If you were a rose? “If I were a rose and you were a bee, You should never go […]
The River by Sara Teasdale
I came from the sunny valleys And sought for the open sea, For I thought in its gray expanses My peace would come to me. I came at last to the ocean And found it wild and black, And I cried to the windless valleys, “Be kind and take me back!” But the thirsty tide […]
The Return by Sara Teasdale
I turned the key and opened wide the door To enter my deserted room again, Where thro’ the long hot months the dust had lain. Was it not lonely when across the floor No step was heard, no sudden song that bore My whole heart upward with a joyous pain? Were not the pictures and […]