PALE is your scarf In the cool night blowing -- Pale as the pennon From a ghost-ship at sea. Cold, proud maiden, Who disdained my loving, If you cannot love me Come not back to me. I feel your breath In my new love's kisses; It chills my lips With a fierce, cold pain. Dear, proud maiden, Who disdained my loving, If you cannot love me Come not back again. Come not in dreams, With your wintry manner, Leaving my spirit Broken at the dawn. Cold is the moonlight Falling on my pillow; Yet colder is my heart, dear, After you have gone. Last night a girl, With quick, clear laughter, Passed by my window Like a swaying rose: She had all beauty For a lone heart's craving -- An anodyne sweet For a world of woes. I warmed her lips With strange, wild kisses; I told my lyre Of her dark, rich charms; I held her close And, when I looked upon her, There lay my old love Dead within my arms. The moon is white On the silver rose-leaf; But she I loved Comes through a broken door. And, O, I cry Like wind in a willow: "If you cannot love me Come here nevermore!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARMOR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO JOHN BROWN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO THE MARTYRED by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TUNK (A LECTURE ON MODERN EDUCATION) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ON A CERTAIN CRITIC by AMY LOWELL |