Part 4

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