I I remember we used to meet By a garden seat, And you warbled each pretty word With the air of a bird, And your voice had a quaver in it Just like a linnet, And shook with the last full note As the thrush's throat. And your eyes, they were green and grey, Like an April day, But lit into amethyst When I stooped and kissed. And your hair -- well, I never could tie it, For it ran all riot Like a tangled sunbeam of gold, Great fold upon fold. II You were always afraid of a shower, (Just like a flower!); I remember you started and ran When the rain began. I remember I never could catch you, For no one could match you; You had wonderful luminous fleet Little wings to your feet. Yet you somehow would give me the prize, With a laugh in your eyes, The rose from your breast, or the bliss Of a single swift kiss On your neck with its marble hue, And its vein of blue -- How these passionate memories bite In my heart as I write! III I remember so well the room, And the lilac bloom That beat at the dripping pane, In the warm June rain. And the colour of your gown, It was amber-brown, And two little satin bows From your shoulders rose. And the handkerchief of French lace Which you held to your face -- Had a tear-drop left a stain? Or was it the rain? 'You have only wasted your life' -- (Ah! there was the knife!) Those were the words you said, As you turned your head. I had wasted my boyhood, true, But it was for you, You had poets enough on the shelf, I gave you myself! IV Well, if my heart must break, Dear Love, for you sake, It will break in music, I know; Poets' hearts break so. But strange that I was not told That the brain can hold In a tiny ivory cell God's Heaven and Hell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOT BY THE SEA by SARA TEASDALE EPITAPH ON HIMSELF by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE HE HAD HIS DREAM by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE ARGUMENT OF HIS BOOK by ROBERT HERRICK THE SPROUTING BOARD by AL-ISRA'ILI |