Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO YOUTH -- IN SECRET JOY, by FANNIE STEARNS DAVIS GIFFORD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO YOUTH -- IN SECRET JOY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shut out the wind, shut out the gloom
Last Line: Sometime your life may need this day!
Alternate Author Name(s): Davis, Fannie Stearns
Subject(s): Youth


SHUT out the wind, shut out the gloom,
Draw the gold curtains round the room:
The candle-light sees well that you
Are glad, as mortals may be. Through
Your heart a secret fragrance blows,
Like a June garden, when a rose
Leans to the wind: the light-lipped morn
Whispers, "So thou! so thou -- art born!"

Oh, far away the haunted past
With all its lonely spaces, vast
And hollow as an echoing hall
Of hateful dreams, where you might call
And run, but never find the end,
Nor window-slit, nor face of friend.

And far away the future. Far
Its shadow as its saving star.
(In truth, what stars shall shine? to make
The sky still holy for their sake,
When earth seems faded, and you know:
"Soon I must go. Soon I must go.")

So far -- that dusk! Sit close, -- and pray.
You have been very glad to-day.
Glad! -- no one knows how glad. You keep
Your dear joy sacred as your sleep.
How could the hard world understand
The warm light tremor of your hand,
The flying flush, the dancing eyes,
And how your whole heart laughs and cries?
-- You would as soon men saw you lie
White in your star-lit room, as spy
This secret. No, you need not speak,
Nor move the hand that holds your cheek;
You need not whisper. Only pray,
Because you were so glad to-day.

For oh, you must remember this
Deep hour of hidden ecstasies,
Of fragrance and unearthly light,
Of sky-swept wonder when to-night --
Nay! but you know so well why you
Are glad! let only God know, too.

Only that you remember. Pray.
Sometime your Life may need this day!





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