Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

The Shrine

There is no lord within my heart,Left silent as an empty shrineWhere rose and myrtle intertwine,Within a place apart.No god is there of carven..

© Sara Teasdale

Redbirds

REDBIRDS, redbirds,Long and long ago,What a honey-call you hadIn hills I used to know;Redbud, buckberry,Wild plum-treeAnd proud river..

© Sara Teasdale

Tides

Love in my heart was a fresh tide flowingWhere the starlike sea gulls soar;The sun was keen and the foam was blowingHigh on the rocky shore.But now..

© Sara Teasdale

Sappho Iii

The twilight's inner flame grows blue and deep,And in my Lesbos, over leagues of sea,The temples glimmer moon-wise in the trees.Twilight has veiled..

© Sara Teasdale

Nightfall

WE will never walk againAs we used to walk at night,Watching our shadows lengthenUnder the gold street-lightWhen the snow was new and white.We will..

© Sara Teasdale

The Song Maker

I made a hundred little songsThat told the joy and pain of love,And sang them blithely, tho' I knewNo whit thereof.I was a weaver deaf and blind;A..

© Sara Teasdale

Debtor

SO long as my spirit stillIs glad of breathAnd lifts its plumes of prideIn the dark face of death;While I am curious stillOf love and fame,Keeping my..

© Sara Teasdale

Lovely Chance

O LOVELY chance, what can I doTo give my gratefulness to you?You rise between myself and meWith a wise persistency;I would have broken body and..

© Sara Teasdale

Understanding

I understood the rest too well,And all their thoughts have come to beClear as grey sea-weed in the swellOf a sunny shallow sea.But you I never..

© Sara Teasdale

Twilight

Dreamily over the roofsThe cold spring rain is falling,Out in the lonely treeA bird is calling, calling.Slowly over the earthThe wings of night are..

© Sara Teasdale

The Wayfarer

Love entered in my heart one day,A sad, unwelcome guest;But when he begged that he might stay,I let him wait and rest.He broke my sleep with..

© Sara Teasdale

Places

PLACES I love come back to me like music,Hush me and heal me when I am very tired;I see the oak woods at Saxton's flamingIn a flare of crimson by the..

© Sara Teasdale

Summer Storm

THE panther windLeaps out of the night,The snake of lightningIs twisting and white,The lion of thunderRoars—and weSit still and contentUnder a..

© Sara Teasdale

Driftwood

MY forefathers gave meMy spirit's shaken flame,The shape of hands, the beat of heart,The letters of my name.But it was my lovers,And not my sleeping..

© Sara Teasdale

Gray Fog

A FOG drifts in, the heavy ladenCold white ghost of the sea—One by one the hills go out,The road and the pepper-tree.I watch the fog float in at the..

© Sara Teasdale

Effigy Of A Nun

Infinite gentleness, infinite ironyAre in this face with fast-sealed eyes,And round this mouth that learned in lonelinessHow useless their wisdom is..

© Sara Teasdale

Song Iii

Let it be forgotten as a flower is forgotten,Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold,Let it be forgotten forever and ever,Time is a kind..

© Sara Teasdale

Vignettes Overseas

I. Off GilbatrarBEYOND the sleepy hills of Spain,The sun goes down in yellow mist,The sky is fresh with dewy starsAbove a sea of amethyst.Yet in the..

© Sara Teasdale

Meadowlarks

IN the silver light after a storm,Under dripping boughs of bright new green,I take the low path to hear the meadowlarksAlone and high-hearted as if I..

© Sara Teasdale

The Love That Goes A-Begging

Oh Loves there are that enter in,And Loves there are that wait,And Loves that sit a-weepingWhose joy will come too late.For some there be that ope..

© Sara Teasdale

Sonnet

I saw a ship sail forth at evening time;Her prow was gilded by the western fire,And all her rigging one vast golden lyre,For winds to play on to the..

© Sara Teasdale

Two Minds

Your mind and mine are such great lovers theyHave freed themselves from cautious human clay,And on wild clouds of thought, naked togetherThey ride..

© Sara Teasdale

Lost Things

OH, I could let the world go by,Its loud new wonders and its wars,But how will I give up the skyWhen winter dusk is set with stars?And I could let..

© Sara Teasdale

Spring Torrents

WILL it always be like this until I am dead,Every spring must I bear it all againWith the first red haze of the budding maple boughs,And the first..

© Sara Teasdale

The Wind

A wind is blowing over my soul,I hear it cry the whole night thro' --Is there no peace for me on earthExcept with you?Alas, the wind has made me..

© Sara Teasdale