Great Throughts Treasury

"I have no riches but my thoughts, yet these are wealth enough for me."

"Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children's faces looking up, Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to sell, Music like a curve of gold, Scent of pine trees in the rain, Eyes that love you, arms that hold, And for your spirit's still delight, Holy thoughts that star the night. Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have been, or could be. "

"I am not yours, nor lost in you, not lost, although I long to be. Lost as a candle lit at noon, lost as a snowflake in the sea. You love me, and I find you still a spirit beautiful and bright, yet I am I, who long to be lost as a light is lost in light. "

"I saw a star slide down the sky Blinding the north as it went by Too buring and too quick to hold Too lovely to be bought or sold Good only to make wishes on And then forever to be gone. "

"When I am dead, and over me bright April Shakes out her rain drenched hair, Tho you should lean above me broken hearted, I shall not care. For I shall have peace. As leafey trees are peaceful When rain bends down the bough. And I shall be more silent and cold hearted Than you are now. "

"There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pool singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone. "

"I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, But my heart was full of my new love's glory, My eyes were laughing and unafraid. I met one who had loved me madly And told his love for all to hear -- But we talked of a thousand things together, The past was buried too deep to fear. I met the other, whose love was given With never a kiss and scarcely a word - Oh, it was then the terror took me Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred. Oh, love that lives its life with laughter Or love that lives its life with tears Can die - but love that is never spoken Goes like a ghost through the winding years… I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, My heart was full of my new love's glory, - But my eyes were suddenly afraid. "

"Child, child, love while you can The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man; Never fear though it break your heart- Out of the wound new joy will start; Only love proudly and gladly and well, Though love be heaven or love be hell. Child, child, love while you may, For life is short as a happy day; Never fear the thing you feel- Only by love is life made real; Love, for the deadly sins are seven, Only through love will you enter heaven. "

"I thought of you and how you love this beauty, And walking up the long beach all alone I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder As you and I once heard their monotone. Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond me The cold and sparkling silver of the sea -- We two will pass through death and ages lengthen Before you hear that sound again with me. "

"Love in my heart is a cry forever Lost as the swallow's flight, Seeking for you and never, never Stilled by the stars at night."

"Down the hill I went, and then, I forgot the ways of men, For night-scents, heady and damp and cool Wakened ecstasy. "

"I am the pool of gold When sunset burns and dies-- You are my deepening skies; Give me your stars to hold... I shall learn from flower and leaf, That color every drop they hold, To change the lifeless wine of grief To living gold. "

"Until I lose my soul and lie Blind to the beauty of the earth, Deaf though shouting wind goes by, Dumb in a storm of mirth; Until my heart is quenched at length And I have left the land of men, Oh, let me love with all my strength Careless if I am loved again. "

"It is enough for me by day To walk the same bright earth with him; Enough that over us by night The same great roof of stars is dim. I do not hope to bind the wind Or set a fetter on the sea -- It is enough to feel his love Blow by like music over me. "

"As dew leaves the cobweb lightly Threaded with stars, Scattering jewels on the fence And the pasture bars; As dawn leaves the dry grass bright And the tangled weeds Bearing a rainbow gem On each of their seeds; So has your love, my lover, Fresh as the dawn, Made me a shining road To travel on, Set every common sight Of tree or stone Delicately alight For me alone. "

"This is the spot where I will lie When life has had enough of me, These are the grasses that will blow Above me like a living sea. These gay old lilies will not shrink To draw their life from death of mine, And I will give my body's fire To make blue flowers on this vine. "O Soul," I said, "have you no tears? Was not the body dear to you?" I heard my soul say carelessly, "The myrtle flowers will grow more blue. "

"I must passed the crest a while ago And now I am going down Strange to have crossed the crest and not to know, But the brambles were always catching the hem of my gown. And the morning I thought how proud I should be To stand there straight as a queen, Wrapped in the wind and the sun with the world under me But the air was dull; there was little I could have seen. It was nearly level along the beaten track And the brambles caught in my gown But it's no use now to think of turning back, The rest of the way will be only going down. "

"If I should see your eyes again, I know how far their look would go -- Back to a morning in the park With sapphire shadows on the snow. Or back to oak trees in the spring When you unloosed my hair and kissed The head that lay against your knees In the leaf shadow's amethyst. And still another shining place We would remember -- how the dun Wild mountain held us on its crest One diamond morning white with sun. But I will turn my eyes from you As women turn to put away The jewels they have worn at night And cannot wear in sober day. "

"When I have ceased to break my wings Against the faultiness of things, And learned that compromises wait Behind each hardly opened gate, When I can look Life in the eyes, Grown calm and very coldly wise, Life will have given me the Truth, And taken in exchange -- my youth. "

"I would not have a god come in To shield me suddenly from sin, And set my house of life to rights; Nor angels with bright burning wings Ordering my earthly thoughts and things; Rather my own frail guttering lights Wind blown and nearly beaten out; Rather the terror of the nights And long, sick groping after doubt; Rather be lost than let my soul Slip vaguely from my own control -- Of my own spirit let me be In sole though feeble mastery. "

"From my spirit's gray defeat, From my pulse's flagging beat, From my hopes that turned to sand Sifting through my close-clenched hand, From my own fault's slavery, If I can sing, I still am free. For with my singing I can make A refuge for my spirit's sake, A house of shining words, to be My fragile immortality. "

"I saw above a sea of hills A solitary planet shine, And there was no one, near or far, to keep the world from being mine. "

"What do I care, in the dreams and the languor of spring, That my songs do not show me at all? For they are a fragrance, and I am a flint and a fire, I am an answer, they are only a call. "

"I saw the sunset-colored sands, The Nile like flowing fire between, Where Rameses stares forth serene, And Ammon's heavy temple stands. I saw the rocks where long ago, Above the sea that cries and breaks, Swift Perseus with Medusa's snakes Set free the maiden white like snow. And many skies have covered me, And many winds have blown me forth, And I have loved the green, bright north, And I have loved the cold, sweet sea. But what to me are north and south, And what the lure of many lands, Since you have learned to catch my hands And lay a kiss upon my mouth. "

"I stood beside a hill Smooth with new-laid snow, A single star looked out From the cold evening glow. There was no other creature That saw what I could see -- I stood and watched the evening star As long as it watched me."

"I was a queen, the daughter of a king. The crown was never heavy on my head, It was my right, and was a part of me. The women thought me proud, the men were kind, And bowed right gallantly to kiss my hand, And watched me as I passed them calmly by, Along the halls I shall not tread again. What if, to-night, I should revisit them? The warders at the gates, the kitchen-maids, The very beggars would stand off from me, And I, their queen, would climb the stairs alone, Pass through the banquet-hall, a loathed thing, And seek my chambers for a hiding-place, And I should find them but a sepulchre, The very rushes rotted on the floors, The fire in ashes on the freezing hearth. I was a queen, and he who loved me best Made me a woman for a night and day, And now I go unqueened forevermore. A queen should never dream on summer eves, When hovering spells are heavy in the dusk: -- I think no night was ever quite so still, So smoothly lit with red along the west, So deeply hushed with quiet through and through. And strangely clear, and deeply dyed with light, The trees stood straight against a paling sky, With Venus burning lamp-like in the west. I walked alone amid a thousand flowers, That drooped their heads and drowsed beneath the dew, And all my thoughts were quieted to sleep. Behind me, on the walk, I heard a step -- I did not know my heart could tell his tread, I did not know I loved him till that hour. Within my breast I felt a wild, sick pain, The garden reeled a little, I was weak, And quick he came behind me, caught my arms, That ached beneath his touch; and then I swayed, My head fell backward and I saw his face. All this grows bitter that was once so sweet, And many mouths must drain the dregs of it. But none will pity me, nor pity him Whom Love so lashed, and with such cruel thongs."

"There! See the line of lights, A chain of stars down either side the street -- Why can't you lift the chain and give it to me, A necklace for my throat? I'd twist it round And you could play with it. You smile at me As though I were a little dreamy child Behind whose eyes the fairies live. . . . And see, The people on the street look up at us All envious. We are a king and queen, Our royal carriage is a motor bus, We watch our subjects with a haughty joy. . . . How still you are! Have you been hard at work And are you tired to-night? It is so long Since I have seen you -- four whole days, I think. My heart is crowded full of foolish thoughts Like early flowers in an April meadow, And I must give them to you, all of them, Before they fade. The people I have met, The play I saw, the trivial, shifting things That loom too big or shrink too little, shadows That hurry, gesturing along a wall, Haunting or gay -- and yet they all grow real And take their proper size here in my heart When you have seen them. . . . There's the Plaza now, A lake of light! To-night it almost seems That all the lights are gathered in your eyes, Drawn somehow toward you. See the open park Lying below us with a million lamps Scattered in wise disorder like the stars. We look down on them as God must look down On constellations floating under Him Tangled in clouds. . . . Come, then, and let us walk Since we have reached the park. It is our garden, All black and blossomless this winter night, But we bring April with us, you and I; We set the whole world on the trail of spring. I think that every path we ever took Has marked our footprints in mysterious fire, Delicate gold that only fairies see. When they wake up at dawn in hollow tree-trunks And come out on the drowsy park, they look Along the empty paths and say, "Oh, here They went, and here, and here, and here! Come, see, Here is their bench, take hands and let us dance About it in a windy ring and make A circle round it only they can cross When they come back again!" . . . Look at the lake -- Do you remember how we watched the swans That night in late October while they slept? Swans must have stately dreams, I think. But now The lake bears only thin reflected lights That shake a little. How I long to take One from the cold black water -- new-made gold To give you in your hand! And see, and see, There is a star, deep in the lake, a star! Oh, dimmer than a pearl -- if you stoop down Your hand could almost reach it up to me. . . . There was a new frail yellow moon to-night -- I wish you could have had it for a cup With stars like dew to fill it to the brim. . . . How cold it is! Even the lights are cold; They have put shawls of fog around them, see! What if the air should grow so dimly white That we would lose our way along the paths Made new by walls of moving mist receding The more we follow. . . . What a silver night! That was our bench the time you said to me The long new poem -- but how different now, How eerie with the curtain of the fog Making it strange to all the friendly trees! There is no wind, and yet great curving scrolls Carve themselves, ever changing, in the mist. Walk on a little, let me stand here watching To see you, too, grown strange to me and far. . . . I used to wonder how the park would be If one night we could have it all alone -- No lovers with close arm-encircled waists To whisper and break in upon our dreams. And now we have it! Every wish comes true! We are alone now in a fleecy world; Even the stars have gone. We two alone!"

"A hush is over everything, silent as women wait for love; the world is waiting for the spring."

"All this grows bitter that was once so sweet, and many mouths must drain the dregs of it. But none will pity me, nor pity him whom Love so lashed, and with such cruel thongs."

"And as I played, a child came thro' the gate, a boy who looked at me without a word, as tho' he saw stretch far behind my head long lines of radiant angels, row on row. That day we spoke a little, timidly, and after that I never heard the voice that sang so many songs for love of me."

"Beauty in all things and in every hour. The gods have given life ? I gave them song; the debt is paid and now I turn to go."

"Beauty, more than bitterness makes the heart break."

"Ah, Aphrodite, if I sing no more to thee, God's daughter, powerful as God, it is that thou hast made my life too sweet to hold the added sweetness of a song. There is a quiet at the heart of love, and I have pierced the pain and come to peace."

"And when you spoke to me, I did not know that to my life's high altar came its priest."

"But oh, to him I loved who loved me not at all, I owe the little open gate that led thru heaven's wall."

"But I will turn my eyes from you as women turn to put away the jewels they have worn at night and cannot wear in sober day."

"Call him wise whose actions, words, and steps are all a clear because to a clear why."

"But you I never understood, your spirit's secret hides like gold sunk in a Spanish galleon ages ago in waters cold."

"Can I ever know you or you know me?"

"Come, when the pale moon like a petal floats in the pearly dusk of spring, come with arms outstretched to take me, come with lips pursed up to cling. Come, for life is a frail moth flying, caught in the web of the years that pass, and soon we two, so warm and eager, will be as the gray stones in the grass."

"For I shall learn from flower and leaf, that color every drop they hold, to change the lifeless wine of grief to living gold."

"Did you never know, long ago, how much you loved me? that your love would never lessen and never go? You were young then, proud and fresh-hearted, you were too young to know. Fate is a wind, and red leaves fly before it far apart, far away in the gusty time of year?seldom we meet now, but when I hear you speaking, I know your secret, my dear, my dear."

"For tho' I know he loves me, to-night my heart is sad; his kiss was not so wonderful as all the dreams I had."

"I almost gave my life long ago for a thing that has gone to dust now, stinging my eyes?it is strange how often a heart must be broken before the years can make it wise."

"How many million Aprils came before I ever knew how white a cherry bough could be, a bed of squills, how blue! And many a dancing April when life is done with me, will lift the blue flame of the flower and the white flame of the tree. Oh burn me with your beauty, then, oh hurt me, tree and flower, lest in the end death try to take even this glistening hour. O shaken flowers, O shimmering trees, O sunlit white and blue, wound me, that I, through endless sleep, may bear the scar of you."

"I am alone, as though I stood on the highest peak of the tired gray world, about me only swirling snow, above me, endless space unfurled; with earth hidden and heaven hidden, and only my own spirit's pride to keep me from the peace of those who are not lonely, having died."

"How should they know that Sappho lived and died faithful to love, not faithful to the lover, never transfused and lost in what she loved, never so wholly loving nor at peace."

"I found more joy in sorrow than you could find in joy."

"I am wild, I will sing to the trees, I will sing to the stars in the sky, I love, I am loved, he is mine, now at last I can die! I am sandaled with wind and with flame, I have heart-fire and singing to give, I can tread on the grass or the stars, now at last I can live!"

"I have come to bury Love beneath a tree, in the forest tall and black where none can see. I shall put no flowers at his head, nor stone at his feet, for the mouth I loved so much was bittersweet. I shall go no more to his grave, for the woods are cold. I shall gather as much of joy as my hands can hold. I shall stay all day in the sun where the wide winds blow, -- But oh, I shall cry at night when none will know."