Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SOFT, BROWN, SMILING EYES by CHRISTOPHER PEARSE CRANCH

SOFT, brown, smiling eyes,
Looking back through years,
Smiling through the mist of time,
Filling mine with tears,
On this sunny morn,
While the grape- blooms swing
In the scented air of June, -
Why these memories bring ?


II.
Silky rippling curls,
Tresses long ago
Laid beneath the shaded sod
Where the violets blow, -
Why across the blue
Of the peerless day
Do ye droop to meet my own,
Now all turned to gray?


III.
Voice whose tender tones
Break in sudden mirth,
Heard far back in boyhood's spring,
Silent now on earth,
Why so sweet and clear,
While the bird and bee
Fill the balmy summer air,
Come your tones to me ?


IV.
Sweet, ah, sweeter far
Than yon thrush's trill,
Sadder, sweeter than the wind,
Woods, or murmuring rill,
Spirit words and songs
O'er my senses creep.
Do I breathe the air of dreams ?
Do I wake or sleep?




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