She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems Read Online Free PDF Page A

said,
    â€œSince you are dead, my life is gone.
    â€œHave I taken your heart in my body
    That meat to me is dear;
    For sorrow alas I now must die
    A noble knight without fear
    â€œWith me thy heart shall surely die
    I have received the sacrament;
    All earthly food I shall deny
    In woe and pain, my life is spent.”
    Her complaint was piteous to hear.
    â€œGoodbye my lord forever;
    I die as true a wife to you
    As any could be ever
    â€œI am chaste of the knight of curtesy
    And wrongfully are we brought to confusion
    I am chaste of him and he of me
    And of all other save you alone.
    â€œMy lord, you were to blame
    For making me eat his heart;
    But since it is buried in my body
    I shall never eat any other meat.
    â€œI have now received eternal food
    Earthly meat will I never touch
    Now realize what you have done
    Have mercy on me—and believe.”
    With that the lady in front of all in sight
    Yielded up her spirit with a moan;
    The high god of heaven almighty
    On us have mercy—every one.

My life closed twice before its close—
    EMILY DICKINSON
    My life closed twice before its close—
    It yet remains to see
    If Immortality unveil
    A third event to me
    So huge, so hopeless to conceive
    As these that twice befell.
    Parting is all we know of heaven,
    And all we need of hell.

When We Two Parted
    GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
    When we two parted
    In silence and tears,
    Half broken-hearted
    To sever for years,
    Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
    Colder thy kiss;
    Truly that hour foretold
    Sorrow to this.
    The dew of the morning
    Sunk chill on my brow—
    It felt like the warning
    Of what I feel now.
    Thy vows are all broken,
    And light is thy fame;
    I hear thy name spoken,
    And share in its shame.
    They name thee before me,
    A knell to mine ear;
    A shudder comes o’er me—
    Why wert thou so dear?
    They know not I knew thee,
    Who knew thee too well:—
    Long, long shall I rue thee,
    Too deeply to tell.
    In secret we met—
    In silence I grieve,
    That thy heart could forget,
    Thy spirit deceive.
    If I should meet thee
    After long years,
    How should I greet thee?—
    With silence and tears.

Well, I Have Lost You
    EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
    Well, I have lost you; and I lost you fairly;
    In my own way, and with my full consent.
    Say what you will, kings in a tumbrel rarely
    Went to their deaths more proud than this one went.
    Some nights of apprehension and hot weeping
    I will confess; but that’s permitted me;
    Day dried my eyes; I was not one for keeping
    Rubbed in a cage a wing that would be free.
    If I had loved you less or played you slyly
    I might have held you for a summer more,
    But at the cost of words I value highly,
    And no such summer as the one before.
    Should I outlive this anguish—and men do—
    I shall have only good to say of you.

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why (Sonnet XLIII)
    EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
    What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
    I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
    Under my head till morning; but the rain
    Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
    Upon the glass and listen for reply,
    And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
    For unremembered lads that not again
    Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
    Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
    Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
    Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
    I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
    I only know that summer sang in me
    A little while, that in me sings no more.

“No, Thank You, John”
    CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
    I never said I loved you, John:
    Why will you teaze me day by day,
    And wax a weariness to think upon
    With always “do” and “pray”?
    You know I never loved you, John;
    No fault of mine made me your toast:
    Why will you haunt me with a face as wan
    As shows an hour-old ghost?
    I dare say Meg or Moll would take
    Pity upon you, if you’d ask:
    And pray don’t remain single for my