Anne Reeve Aldrich
Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 10:23 pm
Anne Reeve Aldrich, poet, 1866- 1892.
Recollection
How can it be that I forget
The way he phrased my doom,
When I recall the arabesques
That carpeted the room?
How can it be that I forget
His look and mein that hour,
When I recall I wore a rose,
And still can smell the flower?
How can it be that I forget
Those words that were his last,
When I recall the tune a man
Was whistling as he passed?
These things are what we keep from life's
Supremest joy or pain;
For memory locks her chaff in bins
And throws away the grain.
Suppose
How sad if, by some strange new law,
All kisses scarred!
For she who is most beautiful
Would be most marred.
And we might be surprised to see
Some lovely wife
Smooth-visaged, while a seeming prude
Was marked for life.
Melody
When the land was white with moonlight,
And the air was sweet with May,
I was so glad that Love would last,
Forever and a day.
Now the land is white with winter,
And dead Love laid away,
I am so glad life cannot last,
Forever and a day.
A Prayer
A morrow must come on,
When I shall wake to weep,
But just for some short hours,
God, give me sleep!
I ask not hope's return,
As I have sowed I reap,
Grief must awake with dawn,
Yet oh, to sleep!
No dreams dear God, no dreams,
Mere slumber, dull and deep,
Such as Thou givest brutes,
-Sleep, only sleep.
Death at Daybreak
I shall go out when the light comes in,
There lie my cast- off form and face;
I shall pass Dawn on her way to earth
As I seek for a path through space.
I shall go out when the light comes in,
Would I might take one ray with me;
It is blackest night between the worlds,
And how is a soul to see?
A Little Parable
I made the cross myself, who weight
Was later laid on me,
This thought adds anguish as I toil,
Up life's steep Cavalry.
To think my own hands drove the nails!
I sang a merry song,
And chose the heaviest wood I had,
To build it firm and strong.
If I had guessed- if I had dreamed,
It's weight was meant for me,
I should've built a lighter cross,
To bear up Cavalry!
Recollection
How can it be that I forget
The way he phrased my doom,
When I recall the arabesques
That carpeted the room?
How can it be that I forget
His look and mein that hour,
When I recall I wore a rose,
And still can smell the flower?
How can it be that I forget
Those words that were his last,
When I recall the tune a man
Was whistling as he passed?
These things are what we keep from life's
Supremest joy or pain;
For memory locks her chaff in bins
And throws away the grain.
Suppose
How sad if, by some strange new law,
All kisses scarred!
For she who is most beautiful
Would be most marred.
And we might be surprised to see
Some lovely wife
Smooth-visaged, while a seeming prude
Was marked for life.
Melody
When the land was white with moonlight,
And the air was sweet with May,
I was so glad that Love would last,
Forever and a day.
Now the land is white with winter,
And dead Love laid away,
I am so glad life cannot last,
Forever and a day.
A Prayer
A morrow must come on,
When I shall wake to weep,
But just for some short hours,
God, give me sleep!
I ask not hope's return,
As I have sowed I reap,
Grief must awake with dawn,
Yet oh, to sleep!
No dreams dear God, no dreams,
Mere slumber, dull and deep,
Such as Thou givest brutes,
-Sleep, only sleep.
Death at Daybreak
I shall go out when the light comes in,
There lie my cast- off form and face;
I shall pass Dawn on her way to earth
As I seek for a path through space.
I shall go out when the light comes in,
Would I might take one ray with me;
It is blackest night between the worlds,
And how is a soul to see?
A Little Parable
I made the cross myself, who weight
Was later laid on me,
This thought adds anguish as I toil,
Up life's steep Cavalry.
To think my own hands drove the nails!
I sang a merry song,
And chose the heaviest wood I had,
To build it firm and strong.
If I had guessed- if I had dreamed,
It's weight was meant for me,
I should've built a lighter cross,
To bear up Cavalry!
