Flame and Shadow — XI - By the Sea

Summer Storm The panther wind Leaps out of the night, The snake of lightning Is twisting and white, The lion of thunder Roars--and we Sit still and content Under a tree-- We have met fate together And love and pain, Why should we fear The wrath of the rain!

In the End All that could never be said, All that could never be done, Wait for us at last Somewhere back of the sun;

All the heart broke to forego Shall be ours without pain, We shall take them as lightly as girls Pluck flowers after rain.

And when they are ours in the end Perhaps after all The skies will not open for us Nor heaven be there at our call.

"It Will Not Change" It will not change now After so many years;

Life has not broken it With parting or tears;

Death will not alter it, It will live on In all my songs for you When I am gone.

Change Remember me as I was then;

Turn from me now, but always see The laughing shadowy girl who stood At midnight by the flowering tree, With eyes that love had made as bright As the trembling stars of the summer night.

Turn from me now, but always hear The muted laughter in the dew Of that one year of youth we had, The only youth we ever knew-- Turn from me now, or you will see What other years have done to me.

Water Lilies If you have forgotten water lilies floating On a dark lake among mountains in the afternoon shade, If you have forgotten their wet, sleepy fragrance, Then you can return and not be afraid.

But if you remember, then turn away forever To the plains and the prairies where pools are far apart, There you will not come at dusk on closing water lilies, And the shadow of mountains will not fall on your heart.

"Did You Never Know?"

Did you never know, long ago, how much you loved me-- That your love would never lessen and never go?

You were young then, proud and fresh-hearted, You were too young to know.

Fate is a wind, and red leaves fly before it Far apart, far away in the gusty time of year-- Seldom we meet now, but when I hear you speaking, I know your secret, my dear, my dear.

The Treasure When they see my songs They will sigh and say, "Poor soul, wistful soul, Lonely night and day."

They will never know All your love for me Surer than the spring, Stronger than the sea;

Hidden out of sight Like a miser's gold In forsaken fields Where the wind is cold.

The Storm I thought of you when I was wakened By a wind that made me glad and afraid Of the rushing, pouring sound of the sea That the great trees made.

One thought in my mind went over and over While the darkness shook and the leaves were thinned-- I thought it was you who had come to find me, You were the wind.

Songs For Myself XII