Rivers to the Sea Part 1

Rivers to the Sea.

by Sara Teasdale.

I

SPRING NIGHT

THE park is filled with night and fog, The veils are drawn about the world, The drowsy lights along the paths Are dim and pearled.

Gold and gleaming the empty streets, Gold and gleaming the misty lake, The mirrored lights like sunken swords, Glimmer and shake.

Oh, is it not enough to be Here with this beauty over me?

My throat should ache with praise, and I Should kneel in joy beneath the sky.

Oh, beauty are you not enough?

Why am I crying after love With youth, a singing voice and eyes To take earth's wonder with surprise?

Why have I put off my pride, Why am I unsatisfied, I for whom the pensive night Binds her cloudy hair with light, I for whom all beauty burns Like incense in a million urns?

Oh, beauty, are you not enough?

Why am I crying after love?

THE FLIGHT

LOOK back with longing eyes and know that I will follow, Lift me up in your love as a light wind lifts a swallow, Let our flight be far in sun or windy rain-- BUT WHAT IF I HEARD MY FIRST LOVE CALLING ME AGAIN?

Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam, Take me far away to the hills that hide your home; Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the door--

BUT WHAT IF I HEARD MY FIRST LOVE CALLING ME ONCE MORE?

NEW LOVE AND OLD

IN my heart the old love Struggled with the new; It was ghostly waking All night thru.

Dear things, kind things, That my old love said, Ranged themselves reproachfully Round my bed.

But I could not heed them, For I seemed to see The eyes of my new love Fixed on me.

Old love, old love, How can I be true?

Shall I be faithless to myself Or to you?

THE LOOK

STREPHON kissed me in the spring, Robin in the fall, But Colin only looked at me And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest, Robin's lost in play, But the kiss in Colin's eyes Haunts me night and day.

SPRING

IN Central Park the lovers sit, On every hilly path they stroll, Each thinks his love is infinite, And crowns his soul.

But we are cynical and wise, We walk a careful foot apart, You make a little joke that tries To hide your heart.

Give over, we have laughed enough; Oh dearest and most foolish friend, Why do you wage a war with love To lose your battle in the end?

THE LIGHTED WINDOW

HE SAID: "In the winter dusk When the pavements were gleaming with rain, I walked thru a dingy street Hurried, hara.s.sed, Thinking of all my problems that never are solved.

Suddenly out of the mist, a flaring gas-jet Shone from a huddled shop.

I saw thru the bleary window A ma.s.s of playthings: False-faces hung on strings, Valentines, paper and tinsel, Tops of scarlet and green, Candy, marbles, jacks-- A confusion of color Pathetically gaudy and cheap.

All of my boyhood Rushed back.

Once more these things were treasures Wildly desired.

With covetous eyes I looked again at the marbles, The precious agates, the pee-wees, the chinies-- Then I pa.s.sed on.

In the winter dusk, The pavements were gleaming with rain; There in the lighted window I left my boyhood."

THE KISS

BEFORE YOU kissed me only winds of heaven Had kissed me, and the tenderness of rain-- Now you have come, how can I care for kisses Like theirs again?

I sought the sea, she sent her winds to meet me, They surged about me singing of the south-- I turned my head away to keep still holy Your kiss upon my mouth.

And swift sweet rains of shining April weather Found not my lips where living kisses are; I bowed my head lest they put out my glory As rain puts out a star.

I am my love's and he is mine forever, Sealed with a seal and safe forevermore-- Think you that I could let a beggar enter Where a king stood before?

SWANS

NIGHT is over the park, and a few brave stars Look on the lights that link it with chains of gold, The lake bears up their reflection in broken bars That seem too heavy for tremulous water to hold.