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第7章

rivers to the sea-第7章

小说: rivers to the sea 字数: 每页4000字

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Less than the sea…gulls calling to the sea。









THE RIVER



I CAME from the sunny valleys

   And sought for the open sea;

For I thought in its gray expanses

   My peace would come to me。



I came at last to the ocean

   And found it wild and black;

And I cried to the windless valleys;

   〃Be kind and take me back!〃



But the thirsty tide ran inland;

   And the salt waves drank of me;

And I who was fresh as the rainfall

   Am bitter as the sea。









LEAVES



ONE by one; like leaves from a tree;

All my faiths have forsaken me;

But the stars above my head

Burn in white and delicate red;

And beneath my feet the earth

Brings the sturdy grass to birth。

I who was content to be

But a silken…singing tree;

But a rustle of delight

In the wistful heart of night

I have lost the leaves that knew

Touch of rain and weight of dew。

Blinded by a leafy crown

I looked neither up nor down

But the little leaves that die

Have left me room to see the sky;

Now for the first time I know

Stars above and earth below。









THE ANSWER



WHEN I go back to earth

And all my joyous body

Puts off the red and white

That once had been so proud;

If men should pass above

With false and feeble pity;

My dust will find a voice

To answer them aloud:



〃Be still; I am content;

Take back your poor compassion;

Joy was a flame in me

Too steady to destroy;

Lithe as a bending reed

Loving the storm that sways her

I found more joy in sorrow

Than you could find in joy。〃















III











OVER THE ROOFS



I



OH chimes set high on the sunny tower

   Ring on; ring on unendingly;

Make all the hours a single hour;

For when the dusk begins to flower;

   The man I love will come to me! 。 。 。



But no; go slowly as you will;

   I should not bid you hasten so;

For while I wait for love to come;

Some other girl is standing dumb;

   Fearing her love will go。



II



Oh white steam over the roofs; blow high!

   Oh chimes in the tower ring clear and free !

Oh sun awake in the covered sky;

   For the man I love; loves me I 。 。 。









RIVERS TO THE SEA



Oh drifting steam disperse and die;

   Oh tower stand shrouded toward the south;

Fate heard afar my happy cry;

   And laid her finger on my mouth。



III



The dusk was blue with blowing mist;

   The lights were spangles in a veil;

And from the clamor far below

   Floated faint music like a wail。



It voiced what I shall never speak;

   My heart was breaking all night long;

But when the dawn was hard and gray;

   My tears distilled into a song。



IV



I said; 〃I have shut my heart

   As one shuts an open door;

That Love may starve therein

   And trouble me no more。〃









RIVERS TO THE SEA



But over the roofs there came

   The wet new wind of May;

And a tune blew up from the curb

   Where the street…pianos play。



My room was white with the sun

   And Love cried out in me;

〃I am strong; I will break your heart

   Unless you set me free。〃










A CRY



OH; there are eyes that he can see;

   And hands to make his hands rejoice;

But to my lover I must be

         Only a voice。



Oh; there are breasts to bear his head;

   And lips whereon his lips can lie;

But I must be till I am dead

         Only a cry。









CHANCE



How many times we must have met

   Here on the street as strangers do;

Children of chance we were; who passed



   The door of heaven and never knew。









IMMORTAL



So soon my body will have gone

   Beyond the sound and sight of men;

And tho' it wakes and suffers now;

   Its sleep will be unbroken then;

But oh; my frail immortal soul

   That will not sleep forevermore;

A leaf borne onward by the blast;

   A wave that never finds the shore。









AFTER DEATH



Now while my lips are living

   Their words must stay unsaid;

And will my soul remember

   To speak when I am dead?



Yet if my soul remembered

   You would not heed it; dear;

For now you must not listen;

   And then you could not hear。









TESTAMENT



I SAID; 〃I will take my life

   And throw it away;

I who was fire and song

   Will turn to clay。〃



〃I will lie no more in the night

   With shaken breath;

I will toss my heart in the air

   To be caught by Death。〃



But out of the night I heard;

   Like the inland sound of the sea;

The hushed and terrible sob

   Of all humanity。



Then I said; 〃Oh who am I

   To scorn God to his face?

I will bow my head and stay

   And suffer with my race。〃









GIFTS



I GAVE my first love laughter;

   I gave my second tears;

I gave my third love silence

   Thru all the years。



My first love gave me singing;

   My second eyes to see;

But oh; it was my third love

   Who gave my soul to me。















IV













FROM THE SEA



ALL beauty calls you to me; and you seem;

Past twice a thousand miles of shifting sea;

To reach me。 You are as the wind I breathe

Here on the ship's sun…smitten topmost deck;

With only light between the heavens and me。

I feel your spirit and I close my eyes;

Knowing the bright hair blowing in the sun;

The eager whisper and the searching eyes。

   *   *   *   *   *   *

Listen; I love you。 Do not turn your face

Nor touch me。 Only stand and watch awhile

The blue unbroken circle of the sea。

Look far away and let me ease my heart

Of words that beat in it with broken wing。

Look far away; and if I say too much;

Forget that I am speaking。 Only watch;

How like a gull that sparkling sinks to rest;









RIVERS TO THE SEA



The foam…crest drifts along a happy wave

Toward the bright verge; the boundary of the world。

   *   *   *   *   *   *

I am so weak a thing; praise me for this;

That in some strange way I was strong enough

To keep my love unuttered and to stand

Altho' I longed to kneel to you that night

You looked at me with ever…calling eyes。

Was I not calm?  And if you guessed my love

You thought it something delicate and free;

Soft as the sound of fir…trees in the wind;

Fleeting as phosphorescent stars in foam。

Yet in my heart there was a beating storm

Bending my thoughts before it; and I strove

To say too little lest I say too much;

And from my eyes to drive love's happy shame。

Yet when I heard your name the first far time

It seemed like other names to me; and I

Was all unconscious; as a dreaming river

That nears at last its long predestined sea;









RIVERS TO THE SEA



And when you spoke to me; I did not know

That to my life's high altar came its priest。

But now I know between my God and me

You stand forever; nearer God than I;

And in your hands with faith and utter joy

I would that I could lay my woman's soul。

   *  *  *  *  *  *

Oh; my love

To whom I cannot come with any gift

Of body or of soul; I pass and go。

But sometimes when you hear blown back to you

My wistful; far…off singing touched with tears;

Know that I sang for you alone to hear;

And that I wondered if the wind would bring

To him who tuned my heart its distant song。

So might a woman who in loneliness

Had borne a child; dreaming of days to come;

Wonder if it would please its father's eyes。

But long before I ever heard your name;

Always the undertone's unchanging note









RIVERS TO THE SEA



In all my singing had prefigured you;

Foretold you as a spark foretells a flame。

Yet I was free as an untethered cloud

In the great space between the sky and sea;

And might have blown before the wind of joy

Like a bright banner woven by the sun。

I did not know the longing in the night

You who have waked me cannot give me sleep。

All thi

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