Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ESCAPE by FANNIE STEARNS DAVIS GIFFORD

First Line: NOW SINCE I CANNOT MAKE IT OUT
Last Line: GOD KNOWS, I CANNOT ALWAYS CRY!

NOW since I cannot make it out:
Why people love and lose and die;
Why there is agony and doubt,
And so much cause to brood and cry;

Oh, since I cannot understand
God's will for all the world, and me, --
I will go take the wind's cold hand,
And dance a little, foolishly.

The hills are green and simple folk;
The wind is quick with comrade-calls;
White wayside apple-trees, and smoke
Of woodfires, and bright waterfalls, --

They never bid me understand.
They never say, "You, too, must die."
I will go take the wind's cold hand.
God knows, I cannot always cry!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net