Part 9

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 in our own love and the gentle gloom, Glad of familiar wall and chair and floor,

Glad to leave far below the clanging city; Looking far downward to the glaring street Gaudy with light, yet tired with many feet, In both of us wells up a wordless pity;

Men have tried hard to put away the dark; A million lighted windows brilliantly Inlay with squares of gold the winter night, But to us standing here there comes the stark Sense of the lives behind each yellow light, And not one wholly joyous, proud, or free.

"I Am Not Yours"

I am not yours, not lost in you, Not lost, although I long to be Lost as a candle lit at noon, Lost as a snowflake in the sea.

You love me, and I find you still A spirit beautiful and bright, Yet I am I, who long to be Lost as a light is lost in light.

Oh plunge me deep in love--put out My senses, leave me deaf and blind, Swept by the tempest of your love, A taper in a rushing wind.

Doubt

My soul lives in my body's house, And you have both the house and her-- But sometimes she is less your own Than a wild, gay adventurer; A restless and an eager wraith, How can I tell what she will do-- Oh, I am sure of my body's faith, But what if my soul broke faith with you?

The Wind

A wind is blowing over my soul, I hear it cry the whole night through-- Is there no peace for me on earth Except with you?

Alas, the wind has made me wise, Over my naked soul it blew,-- There is no peace for me on earth Even with you.

Morning

I went out on an April morning All alone, for my heart was high, I was a child of the shining meadow, I was a sister of the sky.

There in the windy flood of morning Longing lifted its weight from me, Lost as a sob in the midst of cheering, Swept as a sea-bird out to sea.

Other Men

When I talk with other men I always think of you-- Your words are keener than their words, And they are gentler, too.

When I look at other men, I wish your face were there, With its gray eyes and dark skin And tossed black hair.

When I think of other men, Dreaming alone by day, The thought of you like a strong wind Blows the dreams away.

Embers

I said, "My youth is gone Like a fire beaten out by the rain, That will never sway and sing Or play with the wind again."

I said, "It is no great sorrow That quenched my youth in me, But only little sorrows Beating ceaselessly."