Love Songs | Page 7

it I gave to you?A spirit still untrammeled, too,?Take my dreams and take my mind?That were masterless as wind;?And "Master!" I shall say to you?Since you never asked me to.
The Tree of Song
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 --?I gave my songs to the rest,?Myself to you.
The Giver
You bound strong sandals on my feet,?You gave me bread and wine,?And sent me under sun and stars,?For all the world was mine.
Oh, take the sandals off my feet,?You know not what you do;?For all my world is in your arms,?My sun and stars are you.
April Song
Willow, in your April gown?Delicate and gleaming,?Do you mind in years gone by?All my dreaming?
Spring was like a call to me?That I could not answer,?I was chained to loneliness,?I, the dancer.
Willow, twinkling in the sun,?Still your leaves and hear me,?I can answer spring at last,?Love is near me!
The Wanderer
I saw the sunset-colored sands,?The Nile like flowing fire between,?Where Rameses stares forth serene,?And Ammon's heavy temple stands.
I saw the rocks where long ago,?Above the sea that cries and breaks,?Swift Perseus with Medusa's snakes?Set free the maiden white like snow.
And many skies have covered me,?And many winds have blown me forth,?And I have loved the green, bright north,?And I have loved the cold, sweet sea.
But what to me are north and south,?And what the lure of many lands,?Since you have leaned to catch my hands?And lay a kiss upon my mouth.
The Years
To-night I close my eyes and see?A strange procession passing me --?The years before I saw your face?Go by me with a wistful grace;?They pass, the sensitive, shy years,?As one who strives to dance, half blind with tears.
The years went by and never knew?That each one brought me nearer you;?Their path was narrow and apart?And yet it led me to your heart --?Oh, sensitive, shy years, oh, lonely years,?That strove to sing with voices drowned in tears.
Enough
It is enough for me by day?To walk the same bright earth with him;?Enough that over us by night?The same great roof of stars is dim.
I do not hope to bind the wind?Or set a fetter on the sea --?It is enough to feel his love?Blow by like music over me.
Come
Come, when the pale moon like a petal?Floats in the pearly dusk of spring,?Come with arms outstretched to take me,?Come with lips pursed up to cling.
Come, for life is a frail moth flying,?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.
Joy
I am wild, I will sing to the trees,?I will sing to the stars in the sky,?I love, I am loved, he is mine,?Now at last I can die!
I am sandaled with wind and with flame,?I have heart-fire and singing to give,?I can tread on the grass or the stars,?Now at last I can live!
Riches
I have no riches but my thoughts,?Yet these are wealth enough for me;?My thoughts of you are golden coins?Stamped in the mint of memory;
And I must spend them all in song,?For thoughts, as well as gold, must be?Left on the hither side of death?To gain their immortality.
Dusk in War Time
A half-hour more and you will lean?To gather me close in the old sweet way --?But oh, to the woman over the sea?Who will come at the close of day?
A half-hour more and I will hear?The key in the latch and the strong, quick tread --?But oh, the woman over the sea?Waiting at dusk for one who is dead!
Peace
Peace flows into me?As the tide to the pool by the shore;?It is mine forevermore,?It will not ebb like the sea.
I am the pool of blue?That worships the vivid sky;?My hopes were heaven-high,?They are all fulfilled in you.
I am the pool of gold?When sunset burns and dies --?You are my deepening skies;?Give me your stars to hold.
Moods
I am the still rain falling,?Too tired for singing mirth --?Oh, be the green fields calling,?Oh, be for me the earth!
I am the brown bird pining?To leave the nest and fly --?Oh, be the fresh cloud shining,?Oh, be for me the sky!
Houses of Dreams
You took my empty dreams?And filled them every one?With tenderness and nobleness,?April and the sun.
The old empty dreams?Where my thoughts would throng?Are far too full of happiness?To even hold a song.
Oh, the empty dreams were dim?And the empty dreams were wide,?They were sweet and shadowy houses?Where my thoughts could hide.
But you took my dreams away?And you made them all come true --?My thoughts have no place now to play,?And nothing now to do.
Lights
When we come home at night and close the door,?Standing together in the shadowy room,?Safe