Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ST MARTIN'S SUMMER by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: AS SWALLOWS TURNING BACKWARD
Last Line: I HAVE NOT LIVED IN VAIN.
Subject(s): INDIAN SUMMER;
As swallows turning backward
When half-way o'er the sea,
At one word's trumpet summons
They came again to me --
The hopes I had forgotten
Came back again to me.

I know not which to credit,
O lady of my heart!
Your eyes that bade me linger,
Your words that bade us part --
I know not which to credit,
My reason or my heart.

But be my hopes rewarded,
Or be they but in vain,
I have dreamed a golden vision,
I have gathered in the grain --
I have dreamed a golden vision,
I have not lived in vain.



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