Poetry

LET IT BE YOU

Let it be you who lean above me
On my final day,
Let it be you who shut my eyelids
Forever and aye.

Say a "Good-night" as you have said it
All of these years,
With the old look, with the old whisper
And without tears.

You will know then all that in silence
You always knew,
Though I have loved, I loved no other
As I love you.

                                    ---- Sara Teasdale

The Kiss

I hoped that he would love me,
And he has kissed my mouth,
But I am like a stricken bird
That cannot reach the south.

For though I know he loves me,
To-night my heart is sad;
His kiss was not as wonderful
As all the dreams I had.

                                    ---  Sara Teasdale

Dreams

I gave my life to another lover,
I gave my love, an all, and all---
But over a dream the past will hover,
Out of a dream the past will call.

I tear myself from sleep with a shiver
But on my breast a kiss is hot,
And by bed the ghostly giver
Is waiting tho' I see him not.

                                     --- Sara Teasdale

Immortal

So soon my body will have gone
Beyond the sound and sight of men,
And tho' it wakes and suffers now,
Its sleep will be unbroken then;
But oh, my frail immortal soul
That will not sleep forevermore,
A leaf borne onward by the blast,
A wave that never finds the shore.

                                           --- Sara Teasdale

After Death

Now while my lips are living
Their words must stay unsaid,
And will my soul remember
To speak when I am dead?

Yet if my soul remembered
You would not heed it, dear,
For now you must not listen,
And then you could not hear.

                                             --- Sara Teasdale

TWILIGHT

The stately tragedy of dusk
Drew to it perfect close,
The virginal white evening star
Sank, and the red moon rose.

                                                                 ----Sara Teasdale

THE RIVER

I came from the sunny valleys
And sought for the open sea,
For I thought in it's 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!"

                                                              ---Sara Teasdale

A REPLY

Four people knew the very me,
Four is enough, so let it be;
For the rest I make no chart,
There are no highroads to my heart;
The gates are locked, they will not stir
For any ardent traveler.
And on the whole, I think life good--
So wast no sympathy on me
Or any well-meant gallantry;
I have enough to do to muse
On memories I would not lose.

                                                                                ---Sara Teasdale

TO ONE AWAY

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!

                                                                 ----Sara Teasdale