Part 6

My soul is a dark ploughed field In the cold rain; My soul is a broken field Ploughed by pain.

Where grass and bending flowers Were growing, The field lies broken now For another sowing.

Great Sower when you tread My field again, Scatter the furrows there With better grain.

The Unseen

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 door-- But he entered one.

A Prayer

When I am dying, let me know That I loved the blowing snow Although it stung like whips; That I loved all lovely things And I tried to take their stings With gay unembittered lips; That I loved with all my strength, To my soul's full depth and length, Careless if my heart must break, That I sang as children sing Fitting tunes to everything, Loving life for its own sake.

Spring Torrents

Will it always be like this until I am dead, Every spring must I bear it all again With the first red haze of the budding maple boughs, And the first sweet-smelling rain?

Oh I am like a rock in the rising river Where the flooded water breaks with a low call-- Like a rock that knows the cry of the waters And cannot answer at all.

"I Know the Stars"

I know the stars by their names, Aldebaran, Altair, And I know the path they take Up heaven's broad blue stair.

I know the secrets of men By the look of their eyes, Their gray thoughts, their strange thoughts Have made me sad and wise.

But your eyes are dark to me Though they seem to call and call-- I cannot tell if you love me Or do not love me at all.

I know many things, But the years come and go, I shall die not knowing The thing I long to know.

Understanding

I understood the rest too well, And all their thoughts have come to be Clear as grey sea-weed in the swell Of a sunny shallow sea.

But you I never understood, Your spirit's secret hides like gold Sunk in a Spanish galleon Ages ago in waters cold.

Nightfall

We will never walk again As we used to walk at night, Watching our shadows lengthen Under the gold street-light When the snow was new and white.

We will never walk again Slowly, we two, In spring when the park is sweet With midnight and with dew, And the passers-by are few.

I sit and think of it all, And the blue June twilight dies,-- Down in the clanging square A street-piano cries And stars come out in the skies.

"It Is Not a Word"

It is not a word spoken, Few words are said; Nor even a look of the eyes Nor a bend of the head, But only a hush of the heart That has too much to keep, Only memories waking That sleep so light a sleep.

"My Heart Is Heavy"

My heart is heavy with many a song Like ripe fruit bearing down the tree, But I can never give you one-- My songs do not belong to me.