Here is a wound that never will heal, I know,Being wrought not of a dearness and a deathBut of a love turned ashes and the breathGone out of beauty; never again will growThe grass on that scarred acre, though I sowYoung seed there yearly and the sky bequeathIts friendly weathers down, far underneathShall be such […]

Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,And lay them prone upon the earth and ceaseTo ponder on themselves, the while they stareAt nothing, intricately drawn nowhereIn shapes of shifting lineage; let geeseGabble and hiss, but heroes seek releaseFrom dusty bondage into luminous air. O blinding hour, O […]

Say what you will, and scratch my heart to findThe roots of last year’s roses in my breast;I am as surely riper in my mindAs if the fruit stood in the stalls confessed.Laugh at the unshed leaf, say what you will,Call me in all things what I was before,A flutterer in the wind, a woman […]

Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!Give back my book and take my kiss instead.Was it my enemy or my friend I heard?–“What a big book for such a little head!”Come, I will show you now my newest hat,And you may watch me purse my mouth and prink.Oh, I shall love you still […]

What’s this of death, from you who never will die?Think you the wrist that fashioned you in clay,The thumb that set the hollow just that wayIn your full throat and lidded the long eyeSo roundly from the forehead, will let lieBroken, forgotten, under foot some dayYour unimpeachable body, and so slayThe work he most had […]

I know I am but summer to your heart,And not the full four seasons of the year;And you must welcome from another partSuch noble moods as are not mine, my dear.No gracious weight of golden fruits to sellHave I, nor any wise and wintry thing;And I have loved you all too long and wellTo carry […]

When you, that at this moment are to meDearer than words on paper, shall depart,And be no more the warder of my heart,Whereof again myself shall hold the key;And be no more, what now you seem to be,The sun, from which all excellencies startIn a round nimbus, nor a broken dartOf moonlight, even, splintered on […]

Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!

My candle burns at both ends;It will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends–It gives a lovely light!

As I went walking up and down to take the evening air,(Sweet to meet upon the street, why must I be so shy?)I saw him lay his hand upon her torn black hair;(“Little dirty Latin child, let the lady by!”) The women squatting on the stoops were slovenly and fat,(Lay me out in organdie, lay […]

How shall I know, unless I goTo Cairo and Cathay,Whether or not this blessed spotIs blest in every way? Now it may be, the flower for meIs this beneath my nose;How shall I tell, unless I smellThe Carthaginian rose? The fabric of my faithful loveNo power shall dim or ravelWhilst I stay here,–but oh, my […]

And if I loved you Wednesday,Well, what is that to you?I do not love you Thursday–So much is true. And why you come complainingIs more than I can see.I loved you Wednesday,–yes–but whatIs that to me?

We were very tired, we were very merry–We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable–But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon. We were […]

All right,Go ahead!What’s in a name?I guess I’ll be locked intoAs much as I’m locked out of!

Oh, Prue she has a patient man,And Joan a gentle lover,And Agatha’s Arth’ is a hug-the-hearth,–But my true love’s a rover! Mig, her man’s as good as cheeseAnd honest as a briar,Sue tells her love what he’s thinking of,–But my dear lad’s a liar! Oh, Sue and Prue and AgathaAre thick with Mig and Joan!They […]

What should I be but a prophet and a liar,Whose mother was a leprechaun, whose father was a friar?Teethed on a crucifix and cradled under water,What should I be but the fiend’s god-daughter? And who should be my playmates but the adder and the frog,That was got beneath a furze-bush and born in a bog?And […]

Before she has her floor sweptOr her dishes done,Any day you’ll find herA-sunning in the sun! It’s long after midnightHer key’s in the lock,And you never see her chimney smokeTill past ten o’clock! She digs in her gardenWith a shovel and a spoon,She weeds her lazy lettuceBy the light of the moon, She walks up […]

I had a little Sorrow,Born of a little Sin,I found a room all damp with gloomAnd shut us all within;And, “Little Sorrow, weep,” said I,“And, Little Sin, pray God to die,And I upon the floor will lieAnd think how bad I’ve been!” Alas for pious planning–It mattered not a whit!As far as gloom went in […]

There was a road ran past our houseToo lovely to explore.I asked my mother once–she saidThat if you followed where it ledIt brought you to the milk-man’s door.(That’s why I have not traveled more.)

Was it for this I uttered prayers,And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs,That now, domestic as a plate,I should retire at half-past eight?