Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ROMANCE, by REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ROMANCE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, she's just around the corner, and she's just beyond this street
Last Line: As to strangle in the meshes of her hair!
Subject(s): Women


Oh, she's just around the corner, and she's just beyond this street,
And she's just across that hilltop over there!
Can't you see the last glad glimmer of her ever-flying feet?
Can't you smell the luring perfume of her hair?

Why, she's always just beyond you, always singing down the wind
With a breath that's raped from roses and a voice that's like a spell:
Singing, singing -- can't you hear her? --
Singing: "Come a little nearer!
Follow, oh, so little faster; I am losing; come and find!
I am all the dreams you never dared to tell!
"I am youth and I am gladness; I'm adventure and I'm love;
I am flowers in the forest when the stars are all atune;
I am all those golden chances, daily-work was heedless of;
I am final; I am fatal; I am June!"

When the grinding tasks are dullest, and the world is gray routine,
You can see her if you'll only raise your head;
When the ledgers will not balance, or the firmest stocks careen,
She is calling from the latest breeze that sped:
"Come and find me, come and bind me, come and lose and fare with me;
All I ask is that you cast all else away without regret;
Though you sacrifice to capture,
I am roses; I am rapture;
I will take you dancing-dancing-through the farthest fairy sea;
I will teach you all the visions you forget!"

Better follow 'round the corner; better run beyond the street;
Better climb that highest hilltop over there;
Though she slays you when you find her, there is nothing half so sweet
As to strangle in the meshes of her hair!





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