A moon gate in my wall: собрание стихотворений

…This funny game — this life — is full of things
We guess not of. A mocking bird that sings
At dawn, in June, above your windowsill,
Charming your waking fancies with its trill —
Will fly away, and you will never see
Why it had landed on the neighbor tree.
Better to keep things hidden than unmasked,
Lest answers startle, if the truth be asked;
Kinder to let the goldfish float below,
Than, having caught it, watch its life-light go;
Safer to leave the morning star unfound,
Than, having held it, shatter on the ground…
— Leave, and be gone along the open trail,
Don't watch the sun until its glories pale.
So I will wander on, and so will you,
Our feet still wet with early morning dew,
A endless day still glimmering ahead—
That speaks of warmth and often burrs instead.
… We both are humans. That's where really lies
My sympathy for you; and though our eyes
Have never met, we many times have seen
The other's eyes, not knowing what they mean.
Another life, passed by along the way,
Forgotten in a week, yet near today.
Let us be merry; though the blissful hours
May be but few in this here life of ours.
Let us be happy; though the fairy wand
Touches but seldom each unfailing hand…

31 May [1926]

507. Parting

The cold waves, and the light underneath the waves,
— Is anything grayer — is anyone's welcome colder?
Yet dimmer and dimmer grows
The shadow of love's graves,
And barely my conscience saves
The parting touch of your shoulder.
In the ocean I seek repose.
Not even grief can mar
The beauty — when waters close
To silence love's echo.
And you are forgotten and far.

24 Sept. 1926

508. «They took me to the door and showed…»

They took me to the door and showed
A narrow and a winding road,
Leading to wondrous things, that may
Be mine, if I but go that way.
I went, for I had naught to lose,
And saw no other road to choose.
And much the Powers freely gave
That I was fool enough to crave.
Beauty and Love and Youth I had,
And many friends who made me glad
That Higher Powers long ago
Had shown me just that way to go.
Yet often, oh, how often now
I want — if they but told me how —
To find that first wide-open door
And beg for just a little more.

June 1927

509. «It's eye for eye, and tooth for tooth…»

It's eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,
And even the Eternal Truth
For every cruel word I've said
Breathes vengeance on my head.

16 Apr. 1929

510. «I cast a rock into the well…»