Rivers to the Sea Part 2

WILLOW in your April gown Delicate and gleaming, Do you mind in years gone by All my dreaming?

Spring was like a call to me That I could not answer, I was chained to loneliness, I, the dancer.

Willow, twinkling in the sun, Still your leaves and hear me, I can answer spring at last, Love is near me!

MAY DAY

THE s.h.i.+ning line of motors, The swaying motor-bus, The prancing dancing horses Are pa.s.sing by for us.

The sunlight on the steeple, The toys we stop to see, The smiling pa.s.sing people Are all for you and me.

"I love you and I love you!"-- "And oh, I love you, too!"-- "All of the flower girl's lilies Were only grown for you!"

Fifth Avenue and April And love and lack of care-- The world is mad with music Too beautiful to bear.

CROWNED

I WEAR a crown invisible and clear, And go my lifted royal way apart Since you have crowned me softly in your heart With love that is half ardent, half austere; And as a queen disguised might pa.s.s anear The bitter crowd that barters in a mart, Veiling her pride while tears of pity start, I hide my glory thru a jealous fear.

My crown shall stay a sweet and secret thing Kept pure with prayer at evensong and morn, And when you come to take it from my head, I shall not weep, nor will a word be said, But I shall kneel before you, oh my king, And bind my brow forever with a thorn.

TO A CASTILIAN SONG

WE held the book together timidly, Whose antique music in an alien tongue Once rose among the dew-drenched vines that hung Beneath a high Castilian balcony.

I felt the lute strings' ancient ecstasy, And while he read, my love-filled heart was stung, And throbbed, as where an ardent bird has clung The branches tremble on a blossomed tree.

Oh lady for whose sake the song was made, Laid long ago in some still cypress shade, Divided from the man who longed for thee, Here in a land whose name he never heard, His song brought love as April brings the bird, And not a breath divides my love from me!

BROADWAY

THIS is the quiet hour; the theaters Have gathered in their crowds, and steadily The million lights blaze on for few to see, Robbing the sky of stars that should be hers.

A woman waits with bag and shabby furs, A somber man drifts by, and only we Pa.s.s up the street unwearied, warm and free, For over us the olden magic stirs.

Beneath the liquid splendor of the lights We live a little ere the charm is spent; This night is ours, of all the golden nights, The pavement an enchanted palace floor, And Youth the player on the viol, who sent A strain of music thru an open door.

A WINTER BLUEJAY

CRISPLY the bright snow whispered, Crunching beneath our feet; Behind us as we walked along the parkway, Our shadows danced, Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.

Across the lake the skaters Flew to and fro, With sharp turns weaving A frail invisible net.

In ecstasy the earth Drank the silver sunlight; In ecstasy the skaters Drank the wine of speed; In ecstasy we laughed Drinking the wine of love.

Had not the music of our joy Sounded its highest note?

But no, For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said, "Oh look!"

There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple, Fearless and gay as our love, A bluejay c.o.c.ked his crest!

Oh who can tell the range of joy Or set the bounds of beauty?

IN A RESTAURANT

THE darkened street was m.u.f.fled with the snow, The falling flakes had made your shoulders white, And when we found a shelter from the night Its glamor fell upon us like a blow.

The clash of dishes and the viol and bow Mingled beneath the fever of the light.

The heat was full of savors, and the bright Laughter of women lured the wine to flow.

A little child ate nothing while she sat Watching a woman at a table there Lean to a kiss beneath a drooping hat.

The hour went by, we rose and turned to go, The somber street received us from the glare, And once more on your shoulders fell the snow.

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 gra.s.s or the stars, Now at last I can live!

IN A RAILROAD STATION

WE stood in the shrill electric light, Dumb and sick in the whirling din We who had all of love to say And a single second to say it in.

"Good-by!" "Good-by!"--you turned to go, I felt the train's slow heavy start, You thought to see me cry, but oh My tears were hidden in my heart.

IN THE TRAIN

FIELDS beneath a quilt of snow From which the rocks and stubble peep, And in the west a shy white star That s.h.i.+vers as it wakes from sleep.

The restless rumble of the train, The drowsy people in the car, Steel blue twilight in the world, And in my heart a timid star.