Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/175
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And that I need not eat nor drink.
I am full-nourished so.
*****
Beyond the wastes of wept-out woe
I see you still,
Holding toward me those tender hands
I could not fill;
My palms still curve and close,
Deeming they hoard
The shining things you poured
That I let spill.
I am full-nourished so.
*****
Beyond the wastes of wept-out woe
I see you still,
Holding toward me those tender hands
I could not fill;
My palms still curve and close,
Deeming they hoard
The shining things you poured
That I let spill.
Over us lift the years;
Hill upon hill
Of days that wither into night
And nights that ache to day . . .
Reiterated emptiness of shade and light
Crowding the emptier way.
Hill upon hill
Of days that wither into night
And nights that ache to day . . .
Reiterated emptiness of shade and light
Crowding the emptier way.
Up to this high, sure therapy of time,
Beloved, shall we climb?
*****
I know that I am tired: I would rather stay
Down in the shadows of our dear defeat—
Too still for invading grief, too deep—
A little while;
And sleep, as children sleep.
A little, little while!
Turn from my dreamlessness, and wake, and smile
Indifferent to the dark,
Holding to me my one-time joy,
As children clutch an ancient, battered toy
They will not have renewed;
Smile—and lie closer to a loss
That tunes itself to gain—
Inexorable lullaby—
Lie softer, safer,
Beloved, shall we climb?
*****
I know that I am tired: I would rather stay
Down in the shadows of our dear defeat—
Too still for invading grief, too deep—
A little while;
And sleep, as children sleep.
A little, little while!
Turn from my dreamlessness, and wake, and smile
Indifferent to the dark,
Holding to me my one-time joy,
As children clutch an ancient, battered toy
They will not have renewed;
Smile—and lie closer to a loss
That tunes itself to gain—
Inexorable lullaby—
Lie softer, safer,
160