| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922. |
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| Love Songs |
| | | Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) |
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COME
COME, 1 when the pale moon like a petal | |
| Floats in the pearly dusk of Spring, | |
| Come with arms outstretched to take me, | |
| Come with lips that long to cling. | |
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| Come, for life is a frail moth flying, | 5 |
| 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. | |
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MESSAGE
I HEARD a cry in the night, | |
| A thousand miles it came, | 10 |
| Sharp as a flash of light, | |
| My name, my name! | |
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| It was your voice I heard, | |
| You waked and loved me so— | |
| I send you back this word, | 15 |
| I know, I know! | |
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MOODS
I AM the still rain falling, | |
| Too tired for singing mirth— | |
| Oh, be the green fields calling, | |
| Oh, be for me the earth! | 20 |
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| I am the brown bird pining | |
| To leave the nest and fly— | |
| Oh, be the fresh cloud shining, | |
| Oh, be for me the sky! | |
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NIGHT SONG AT AMALFI
I ASKED 2 the heaven of stars | 25 |
| What I should give my love— | |
| It answered me with silence, | |
| Silence above. | |
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| I asked the darkened sea | |
| Down where the fishers go— | 30 |
| It answered me with silence, | |
| Silence below. | |
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| Oh, I could give him weeping, | |
| Or I could give him song— | |
| But how can I give silence | 35 |
| My whole life long? | |
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SONG
LET it be forgotten as a flower is forgotten, | |
| Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold, | |
| Let it be forgotten forever and ever, | |
| Time is a kind friend, he will make us old. | 40 |
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| If any one asks, say it was forgotten | |
| Long and long ago, | |
| As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall | |
| In a long forgotten snow. | |
| | | Note 1. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, from Love Songs, by Sara Teasdale. Copyright, 1917, by The Macmillan Company. [back] |
| Note 2. Reprinted by permission of the publishers, from Love Songs, by Sara Teasdale. Copyright, 1917, by The Macmillan Company. [back] |
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