Time was when I would flout you
With clever something said—
And could not live without you
When you turned your head.
With me you walked the sunlight,
With me you walked the rain….
If that could be so
Ever again….
THE MASTERS
Two with great hearts, deeply you proved them.
Laughing you loved them, childlike you said,
"Oh, but this is the part—!" Almost I reproved them
Drawing you from me, minds long dead.
Yet forever your voice, wraith that was rapture!
What great-souled spaces the while you read
Joy—pain—mirth—all I would capture,—
Dickens and Browning—your bended head …
Heaven of lamplight I long for lonely
Where all the folk of their fancy tread;
Three small faces, and mine,—and only
Dickens and Browning—your bended head!
WHEN
It is when the trees have such radiant flowers,
Such white and rosy showers,
Such fragrant whispering,—
It is when the sun lights such mellow, yellow hours,—
For lovers love the Spring!
It is when the moon is so pale and drifting,
Blossoms softly sifting
From the vines that climb and cling,
That my heart will stop to hear love's laughter lifting,—
For lovers love the Spring!
It is when the long evenings, their haze of violet wearing,
Hold the passing voices as on music's throbbing string,
By some vague open window I shall sit long staring,—
For lovers love the Spring!