My window-pane is starred with frost, The world is bitter cold to-night, The moon is cruel and the wind Is like a two-edged sword to smite. God pity ... Read more
Acquainted with the Night
I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down ... Read more
After Love
There is no magic any more, We meet as other people do, You work no miracle for me Nor I for you. You were the wind and I the sea— There is no ... Read more
Afternoon on a Hill
I will be the gladdest thing Under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one. I will look at cliffs and clouds With quiet eyes, Watch ... Read more
Alchemy
I lift my heart as spring lifts up A yellow daisy to the rain; My heart will be a lovely cup Altho' it holds but pain. For I shall learn from flower ... Read more
An Old Man’s Winter Night
All out-of-doors looked darkly in at him Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars, That gathers on the pane in empty rooms. What kept his eyes ... Read more
Ashes of Life
Love has gone and left me and the days are all alike; Eat I must, and sleep I will,— and would that night were here! But ah!—to lie awake and hear the ... Read more
Assault
I. I had forgotten how the frogs must sound After a year of silence, else I think I should not so have ventured forth alone At dusk upon this ... Read more
Barter
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 ... Read more
Because
Oh, because you never tried To bow my will or break my pride, And nothing of the cave-man made You want to keep me half afraid, Nor ever with a ... Read more
Bond and Free
Love has earth to which she clings With hills and circling arms about— Wall within wall to shut fear out. But Thought has need of no such things, For ... Read more
Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies
Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where ... Read more
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish ... Read more
Ghost House
I dwell in a lonely house I know That vanished many a summer ago, And left no trace but the cellar walls, And a cellar in which the daylight falls And ... Read more
Going for Water
The well was dry beside the door, And so we went with pail and can Across the fields behind the house To seek the brook if still it ran; Not loth to ... Read more
Grandfather’s Love
They said he sent his love to me, They wouldn't put it in my hand, And when I asked them where it was They said I couldn't understand. I thought they ... Read more
Here is a wound that never will heal, I know
Here is a wound that never will heal, I know, Being wrought not of a dearness and a death But of a love turned ashes and the breath Gone out of ... Read more
I know I am but summer to your heart
I know I am but summer to your heart, And not the full four seasons of the year; And you must welcome from another part Such noble moods as are not ... Read more
If I should learn, in some quite casual way
If I should learn, in some quite casual way, That you were gone, not to return again— Read from the back-page of a paper, say, Held by a neighbor in a ... Read more
In a Garden
The world is resting without sound or motion, Behind the apple tree the sun goes down Painting with fire the spires and the windows In the elm-shaded ... Read more
Justice Denied in Massachusetts
Let us abandon then our gardens and go home And sit in the sitting-room. Shall the larkspur blossom or the corn grow under the cloud? Sour to the ... Read more
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise ... Read more
Lovely Chance
O lovely chance, what can I do To give my gratefulness to you? You rise between myself and me With a wise persistency; I would have broken body and ... Read more
May Day
A delicate fabric of bird song Floats in the air, The smell of wet wild earth Is everywhere. Red small leaves of the maple Are clenched like a ... Read more
Meeting and Passing
As I went down the hill along the wall There was a gate I had leaned at for the view And had just turned from when I first saw you As you came up the ... Read more
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to ... Read more
October
O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; To-morrow's wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the forest ... Read more
Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!
Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word! Give back my book and take my kiss instead. Was it my enemy or my friend I heard?— "What a big book for such ... Read more
Old Tunes
As the waves of perfume, heliotrope, rose, Float in the garden when no wind blows, Come to us, go from us, whence no one knows; So the old tunes ... Read more
Portrait by a Neighbor
Before she has her floor swept Or her dishes done, Any day you'll find her A-sunning in the sun! It's long after midnight Her key's in the lock, And ... Read more
Reluctance
Out through the fields and the woods And over the walls I have wended; I have climbed the hills of view And looked at the world, and descended; I have ... Read more
Say what you will, and scratch my heart to find
Say what you will, and scratch my heart to find The roots of last year's roses in my breast; I am as surely riper in my mind As if the fruit stood in ... Read more
Snowfall
"She can't be unhappy," you said, "The smiles are like stars in her eyes, And her laugh is thistledown Around her low replies." "Is she unhappy?" you ... Read more
Spring Rain
I thought I had forgotten, But it all came back again To-night with the first spring thunder In a rush of rain. I remembered a darkened doorway Where ... Read more
The Hill Wife—V. The Impulse
It was too lonely for her there, And too wild, And since there were but two of them, And no child, And work was little in the house, She was free, And ... Read more
The Penitent
I had a little Sorrow, Born of a little Sin, I found a room all damp with gloom And shut us all within; And, "Little Sorrow, weep," said I, "And, ... Read more
The Return
I turned the key and opened wide the door To enter my deserted room again, Where thro' the long hot months the dust had lain. Was it not lonely when ... Read more
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To ... Read more
The Silken Tent
She is as in a field of silken tent At midday when the sunny summer breeze Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent, So that in guys it gently sways ... Read more
Thinking
If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win, but think you can't, it's almost a cinch you ... Read more