Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD LETTERS, by CORA RANDALL FABBRI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD LETTERS, by                    
First Line: Turn the light low, let the moonbeams stray
Last Line: With this faded ribbon blue.
Subject(s): Letters


TURN the light low, let the moonbeams stray
Through the window open wide,
And now leave me quite alone,
With these letters by my side,

In the gloaming gray and dim,
With the birds' sweet good-night hymn
Floating from the distance in.

All alone and yet not lonely,
For what throngs of mem'ries come
When I lift these letters worn,
Old and yellow, one by one.

Loose tied with a ribbon blue
Of a tender, faded hue;
Signed alone: "Your sweetheart true."

In among the pages thin,
Heart's-ease that of old she wore;
They cannot cure my heartache now,
As they used to once before;

As they used to long ago,
In those sweet old times, ah, no!
For they tell me but of woe.

In among these records fair
A sweet pictured face I see;
That face graven on my heart,
As it evermore will be.

Dainty head of golden hair,
Large blue eyes so sweet and fair,
Blue as hearts of violets rare.

Just the same that long ago
With that laughing, 'witching face,
Stole my heart, and left me glad
For a bright, brief summer space.

Oh, those happy, joyous hours
Passed among the dewy flowers
In the sunlit, scented bowers!

Then my cup of joy seemed full,
And it grew more so each day;
Till at last it overflowed,
Ran in sparkling drops away;

Left me sad and quite forlorn,
With a love that I must mourn,
With a bliss all past and gone.

A ring sent back—a lock of hair,
A letter, too—that we must part,
A few short words so coldly writ,
But ah, that letter broke my heart.

She knew I'd "see 'twere for the best,"
"We could be friends" (what words of jest!)
"Esteem," and—but you know the rest.

I cried to God, then, in my pain,
I could not live with this great loss;
But He taught me how instead
I must live and bear my cross.

So sped on year after year,
Life went all blank and drear,
Till the past seemed one dream fair.

Though her heart was faithless, I
Ne'er have loved her less, ah, no!
Some souls drink their cup of bliss
In one draught—with me 'twas so.

In that happy summer-time,
In those days all gold sunshine,
I had drunk and finished mine.

Now all is a dream long past;
Only as a memory here
Those few letters yellow lie,
Older, dimmer year by year.

And my heartache, as I lean
O'er these records, grows more keen
Thinking of what might have been.

God forgive me, He knows best;
'Tis His hand that sends all pain.
I have lived my sweet past o'er,
Sweet and bitter, once again.

Back I lay these letters few,
But I tie my heart up, too,
With this faded ribbon blue.





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