Rivers to the Sea

by Sara Teasdale
To

ERNST
CONTENTS

PART I
SPRING NIGHT

THE FLIGHT
NEW LOVE AND OLD

THE LOOK
SPRING

THE LIGHTED WINDOW
THE KISS

SWANS
THE OLD MAID

FROM THE WOOLWORTH TOWER
AT NIGHT

THE YEARS
PEACE

APRIL
COME

MOODS
APRIL SONG

MAY DAY
CROWNED

TO A CASTILIAN SONG
BROADWAY

A WINTER BLUEJAY
IN A RESTAURANT

JOY
IN A RAILROAD STATION

IN THE TRAIN
TO ONE AWAY

SONG
DEEP IN THE NIGHT

THE INDIA WHARF
I SHALL NOT CARE

DESERT POOLS
LONGING

PITY
AFTER PARTING

ENOUGH
ALCHEMY

FEBRUARY
MORNING

MAY NIGHT
DUSK IN JUNE

LOVE-FREE
SUMMER NIGHT, RIVERSIDE

IN A SUBWAY STATION
AFTER LOVE

DOORYARD ROSES
A PRAYER

PART II
INDIAN SUMMER

THE SEA WIND
THE CLOUD

THE POOR HOUSE
NEW YEAR'S DAWN-BROADWAY

THE STAR
DOCTORS

THE INN OF EARTH
IN THE CARPENTER'S SHOP

THE CARPENTER'S SON
THE MOTHER OF A POET

IN MEMORIAM F. O. S
TWILIGHT

SWALLOW FLIGHT
THOUGHTS

TO DICK, ON HIS SIXTH BIRTHDAY
TO ROSE

THE FOUNTAIN
THE ROSE

DREAMS
"I AM NOT YOURS"

PIERROT'S SONG
NIGHT IN ARIZONA

DUSK IN WAR TIME
SPRING IN WAR TIME

WHILE I MAY
DEBT

FROM THE NORTH
THE LIGHTS OF NEW YORK

SEA LONGING
THE RIVER

LEAVES
THE ANSWER

PART III
OVER THE ROOFS

A CRY
CHANCE

IMMORTAL
AFTER DEATH

TESTAMENT
GIFTS

PART IV
FROM THE SEA

VIGNETTES OVERSEAS
PART V

SAPPHO
I

RIVERS TO THE SEA
SPRING NIGHT

THE park is filled with night and fog,
The veils are drawn about the world,

The drowsy lights along the paths
Are dim and pearled.

Gold and gleaming the empty streets,
Gold and gleaming the misty lake,

The mirrored lights like sunken swords,
Glimmer and shake.

Oh, is it not enough to be
Here with this beauty over me?

My throat should ache with praise, and I
Should kneel in joy beneath the sky.

Oh, beauty are you not enough?
RIVERS TO THE SEA

Why am I crying after love
With youth, a singing voice and eyes

To take earth's wonder with surprise?
Why have I put off my pride,

Why am I unsatisfied,
I for whom the pensive night

Binds her cloudy hair with light,
I for whom all beauty burns

Like incense in a million urns?
Oh, beauty, are you not enough?

Why am I crying after love?
THE FLIGHT

LOOK back with longing eyes and know that I will follow,
Lift me up in your love as a light wind lifts a swallow,

Let our flight be far in sun or windy rain--
BUT WHAT IF I HEARD MY FIRST LOVE CALLING ME AGAIN?

Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam,
Take me far away to the hills that hide your home;

Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the door--
BUT WHAT IF I HEARD MY FIRST LOVE CALLING ME ONCE MORE?

NEW LOVE AND OLD
IN my heart the old love

Struggled with the new;
It was ghostly waking

All night thru.
Dear things, kind things,

That my old love said,
Ranged themselves reproachfully

Round my bed.
But I could not heed them,

For I seemed to see
The eyes of my new love

Fixed on me.
Old love, old love,

How can I be true?
Shall I be faithless to myself

Or to you?
THE LOOK

STREPHON kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,

But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest,
Robin's lost in play,

But the kiss in Colin's eyes
Haunts me night and day.

SPRING
IN Central Park the lovers sit,

On every hilly path they stroll,
Each thinks his love is infinite,

And crowns his soul.
But we are cynical and wise,

We walk a careful foot apart,
You make a little joke that tries

To hide your heart.
Give over, we have laughed enough;

Oh dearest and most foolish friend,
Why do you wage a war with love

To lose your battle in the end?
THE LIGHTED WINDOW

HE SAID:
"In the winter dusk

When the pavements were gleaming with rain,
I walked thru a dingy street

Hurried, harassed,
Thinking of all my problems that never are

solved.
Suddenly out of the mist, a flaring gas-jet

Shone from a huddled shop.
I saw thru the bleary window

A mass of playthings:
False-faces hung on strings,

Valentines, paper and tinsel,
Tops of scarlet and green,

Candy, marbles, jacks--
A confusion of color

Pathetically gaudy and cheap.
All of my boyhood

RIVERS TO THE SEA
Rushed back.

Once more these things were treasures
Wildly desired.

With covetous eyes I looked again at the marbles,
The precious agates, the pee-wees, the chinies--

• throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)
• flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
• scarlet [´skɑ:lit] n.猩红色 a.猩红的 (初中英语单词)
• confusion [kən´fju:ʒən] n.混乱(状态)；骚乱 (初中英语单词)
• drowsy [´drauzi] a.困倦的；催眠的 (高中英语单词)
• sunken [´sʌŋkən] sink的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• incense [´insens, in´sens] n.香(气) vt.激怒 (高中英语单词)
• longing [´lɔŋiŋ] n.&a.渴望(的) (高中英语单词)
• subway [´sʌbwei] n.地铁；地道 (英语四级单词)
• thatch [θætʃ] n.茅草屋顶 (英语四级单词)
• pensive [´pensiv] a.沉思的；忧郁的 (英语六级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)
• ghostly [´gəustli] a.鬼的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
• faithless [´feiθləs] a.不忠的；虚假的 (英语六级单词)
• cynical [´sinikəl] a.讥诮的；冷嘲的 (英语六级单词)