I

Barter

Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children's faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell, Music like a curve of gold, Scent of pine trees in the rain, Eyes that love you, arms that hold, And for your spirit's still delight, Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have been, or could be.

Twilight

Dreamily over the roofs The cold spring rain is falling; Out in the lonely tree A bird is calling, calling.

Slowly over the earth The wings of night are falling; My heart like the bird in the tree Is calling, calling, calling.

Night Song at Amalfi

I asked the heaven of stars What I should give my love -- It answered me with silence, Silence above.

I asked the darkened sea Down where the fishers go -- It answered

me with silence, Silence below.

Oh, I could give him weeping, Or I could give him song -- But how can I give silence, My whole life long?

The Look

Strephon kissed me in the spring, Robin in the fall, But Colin only looked at me And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest, Robin's lost in play, But the kiss in Colin's eyes Haunts me night and day.

A Winter Night

My window-pane is starred with frost, The world is bitter cold to- night, The moon is cruel, and the wind Is like a two-edged sword to smite.

God pity all the homeless ones, The beggars pacing to and fro, God pity all the poor to-night Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.

My room is like a bit of June, Warm and close-curtained fold on fold, But somewhere, like a homeless child, My heart is crying in the cold.

A Cry

Oh, there are eyes that he can see, And hands to make his hands rejoice, But to my lover I must be Only a voice.

Oh, there are breasts to bear his head, And lips whereon his lips can lie, But I must be till I am dead Only a cry.

Gifts

I gave my first love laughter, I gave my second tears, I gave my third love silence Through all the years.

My first love gave me singing, My second eyes to see, But oh, it was my third love Who gave my soul to me.

But Not to Me

The April night is still and sweet With flowers on every tree; Peace comes to them on quiet feet,But not to me.

My peace is hidden in his breast Where I shall never be; Love comes to-night to all the rest,But not to me.

Song at Capri

When beauty grows too great to bear How shall I ease me of its ache, For beauty more than bitterness Makes the heart break.

Now while I watch the dreaming sea With isles like flowers against her breast, Only one voice in all the world Could give me rest.

Child, Child

Child, child, love while you can The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man; Never fear though it break your heart -- Out of the wound new joy will start; Only love proudly and gladly and well, Though love be heaven or love be hell.

Child, child, love while you may, For life is short as a happy day;

Never fear the thing you feel -- Only by love is life made real; Love, for the deadly sins are seven, Only through love will you enter heaven.

Love Me

Brown-thrush singing all day long In the leaves above me, Take my love this April song, "Love me, love me, love me!"

When he harkens what you say, Bid him, lest he miss me, Leave his work or leave his play, And kiss me, kiss me, kiss me!

Pierrot

Pierrot stands in the garden Beneath a waning moon, And on his lute he fashions A fragile silver tune.

Pierrot plays in the garden, He thinks he plays for me, But I am quite forgotten Under the cherry tree.

Pierrot plays in the garden, And all the roses know That Pierrot loves his music, -- But I love Pierrot.

Wild Asters

In the spring I asked the daisies If his words were true, And the clever, clear-eyed daisies Always knew.

Now the fields are brown and barren, Bitter autumn blows, And of all the stupid asters Not one knows.

The Song for Colin

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.

Four Winds

"Four winds blowing through the sky, You have seen poor maidens die, Tell me then what I shall do That my lover may be true." Said the wind from out the south, "Lay no kiss upon his mouth," And the wind from out the west, "Wound the heart within his breast," And the wind from out the east, "Send him empty from the feast," And the wind from out the north, "In the tempest thrust him forth; When thou art more cruel than he, Then will Love be kind to thee."

Debt

What do I owe to you Who loved me deep and long? You never gave my spirit wings Or gave my heart a song.

But oh, to him I loved, Who loved me not at all, I owe the open gate That led through heaven's wall.

Faults

They came to tell your faults to me, They named them over one by one; I laughed aloud when they were done, I knew them all so well before,

Oh, they were blind, too blind to see Your faults had made me love you more.

Buried Love

I have come to bury Love Beneath a tree, In the forest tall and black Where none can see.

I shall put no flowers at his head, Nor stone at his feet, For the mouth I loved so much Was bittersweet.

I shall go no more to his grave, For the woods are cold. I shall gather as much of joy As my hands can hold.

I shall stay all day in the sun Where the wide winds blow, -- But oh, I shall cry at night When none will know.

The Fountain

All through the deep blue night The fountain sang alone; It sang to the drowsy heart Of the satyr carved in stone.

The fountain sang and sang, But the satyr never stirred -- Only the great white moon In the empty heaven heard.

The fountain sang and sang While on the marble rim The milk-white peacocks slept, And their dreams were strange and dim.

Bright dew was on the grass, And on the ilex, dew, The dreamy milk-white birds Were all a-glisten, too.

The fountain sang and sang The things one cannot tell; The dreaming peacocks stirred And the gleaming dew-drops fell.

I Shall Not Care

When I am dead and over me bright April Shakes out her rain- drenched hair, Though you should lean above me broken-hearted, I shall not care.

I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful When rain bends down the bough, And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted Than you are now.

After Parting

Oh, I have sown my love so wide That he will find it everywhere; It will awake him in the night, It will enfold him in the air.

I set my shadow in his sight And I have winged it with desire, That it may be a cloud by day, And in the night a shaft of fire.

A Prayer

Until I lose my soul and lie Blind to the beauty of the earth, Deaf though shouting wind goes by, Dumb in a storm of mirth;

Until my heart is quenched at length And I have left the land of men, Oh, let me love with all my strength Careless if I am loved again.

Spring Night

The park is filled with night and fog, The veils are drawn about the world, The drowsy lights along the paths Are dim and pearled.

Gold and gleaming the empty streets, Gold and gleaming the misty lake, The mirrored lights like sunken swords, Glimmer and shake.

Oh, is it not enough to be Here with this beauty over me? My throat should ache with praise, and I Should kneel in joy beneath the sky. O,

beauty, are you not enough? Why am I crying after love, With youth, a singing voice, and eyes To take earth's wonder with surprise?

Why have I put off my pride, Why am I unsatisfied, -- I, for whom the pensive night Binds her cloudy hair with light, -- I, for whom all beauty burns Like incense in a million urns? O beauty, are you not enough? Why am I crying after love?

May Wind

I said, "I have shut my heart As one shuts an open door, That Love may starve therein And trouble me no more."

But over the roofs there came The wet new wind of May, And a tune blew up from the curb Where the street-pianos play.

My room was white with the sun And Love cried out in me, "I am strong, I will break your heart Unless you set me free."

Tides

Love in my heart was a fresh tide flowing Where the starlike sea gulls soar; The sun was keen and the foam was blowing High on the rocky shore.

But now in the dusk the tide is turning, Lower the sea gulls soar, And the waves that rose in resistless yearning Are broken forevermore.

After Love

There is no magic any more, We meet as other people do, You work no miracle for me Nor I for you.

You were the wind and I the sea -- There is no splendor any more, I

have grown listless as the pool Beside the shore.

But though the pool is safe from storm And from the tide has found surcease, It grows more bitter than the sea, For all its peace.

New Love and Old

In my heart the old love Struggled with the new; It was ghostly waking All night through.

Dear things, kind things, That my old love said, Ranged themselves reproachfully Round my bed.

But I could not heed them, For I seemed to see The eyes of my new love Fixed on me.

Old love, old love, How can I be true? Shall I be faithless to myself Or to you?

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 so wonderful As all the dreams I had.

Swans

Night is over the park, and a few brave stars Look on the lights that link it with chains of gold, The lake bears up their reflection in broken bars That seem too heavy for tremulous water to hold.

We watch the swans that sleep in a shadowy place, And now and again one wakes and uplifts its head; How still you are -- your gaze is on

my face -- We watch the swans and never a word is said.

The River

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 ran inland, And the salt waves drank of me, And I who was fresh as the rainfall Am bitter as the sea.

November

The world is tired, the year is old, The fading leaves are glad to die, The wind goes shivering with cold Where the brown reeds are dry.

Our love is dying like the grass, And we who kissed grow coldly kind, Half glad to see our old love pass Like leaves along the wind.

Spring Rain

I thought I had forgotten, But it all came back again To-night with the first spring thunder In a rush of rain.

I remembered a darkened doorway Where we stood while the storm swept by, Thunder gripping the earth And lightning scrawled on the sky.

The passing motor busses swayed, For the street was a river of rain, Lashed into little golden waves In the lamp light's stain.

With the wild spring rain and thunder My heart was wild and gay; Your eyes said more to me that night Than your lips would ever say. . . .

I thought I had forgotten, But it all came back again To-night with

the first spring thunder In a rush of rain.

The Ghost

I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, But my heart was full of my new love's glory, My eyes were laughing and unafraid.

I met one who had loved me madly And told his love for all to hear -

- But we talked of a thousand things together, The past was buried too deep to fear.

I met the other, whose love was given With never a kiss and scarcely a word -- Oh, it was then the terror took me Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred.

Oh, love that lives its life with laughter Or love that lives its life with tears Can die -- but love that is never spoken Goes like a ghost through the winding years. . . .

I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, My heart was full of my new love's glory, -- But my eyes were suddenly afraid.

Summer Night, Riverside

In the wild, soft summer darkness How many and many a night we two together Sat in the park and watched the Hudson Wearing her lights like golden spangles Glinting on black satin. The rail along the curving pathway Was low in a happy place to let us cross, And down the hill a tree that dripped with bloom Sheltered us, While your kisses and the flowers, Falling, falling, Tangled my hair. . . .

The frail white stars moved slowly over the sky.

And now, far off In the fragrant darkness The tree is tremulous again with bloom, For June comes back.

To-night what girl Dreamily before her mirror shakes from her hair This year's blossoms, clinging in its coils?

Jewels

If I should see your eyes again, I know how far their look would go -

• Back to a morning in the park With sapphire shadows on the snow.

Or back to oak trees in the spring When you unloosed my hair and kissed The head that lay against your knees In the leaf shadow's amethyst. And still another shining place We would remember -- how the dun Wild mountain held us on its crest One diamond morning white with sun.

But I will turn my eyes from you As women turn to put away The jewels they have worn at night And cannot wear in sober day.