Quotes By Author: sara teasdale

“Never again the music blown as brightlyOff of my heart as foam blown off a wave;Never again the melody that lightly Caressed my grief and healed the wounds it gave.Never again–I hear my dark thoughts clashingSullen and blind as waves that beat a wall–Age that is coming, summer that is going,All I have lost or never found at all.”

“Only in sleep I see their faces,Children I played with when I was a child,Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,Annie with ringlets warm and wild.Only in sleep Time is forgotten–What may have come to them, who can know?Yet we played last night as long ago,And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.The years had not sharpened their smooth around faces, I met their eyes and found them mild–Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,And for them am I, too, a child?”

“She must be rich who can foregoAn hour so jewelled with delight,She must have teasuries of joyThat she can draw on day and night,She must be very sure of heaven–Or is it only that she feelsHow much more safe it is to lackA thing that time so often steals.”

“I Have Loved Hours at SeaI have loved hours at sea, gray cities,The fragile secret of a flower,Music, the making of a poemThat gave me heaven for an hour;First stars above a snowy hill,Voices of people kindly and wise,And the great look of love, long hidden,Found at last in meeting eyes.I have loved much and been loved deeply—Oh when my spirit’s fire burns low,Leave me the darkness and the stillness,I shall be tired and glad to go.”

“Only In SleepOnly in sleep I see their faces,Children I played with when I was a child,Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,Annie with ringlets warm and wild.Only in sleep Time is forgotten –What may have come to them, who can know?Yet we played last night as long ago,And the doll-house stood at the turn of the stair.The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces,I met their eyes and found them mild –Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder,And for them am I too a child?”

“The UnchangingSun-swept beaches with a light wind blowingFrom the immense blue circle of the sea,And the soft thunder where long waves whiten—These were the same for Sappho as for me.Two thousand years—much has gone by forever,Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men—But here on the beaches that time passes overThe heart aches now as then.”

“Never fear the thing you feel– Only by love is life made real”

“The Long HillI must have passed the crest a while ago And now I am going down– Strange to have crossed the crest and not to know, But the brambles were always grabbing at the hem of my gown.All the morning I thought how proud I should be To stand there straight as a queen, Wrapped in the wind and the sun with the world under me– But the air was dull, there was little I could have seen. It was nearly level along the beaten track And the brambles caught in my gown– But it’s no use now to think of turning back, The rest of the way will be only going down.”

“A BoyOut of the noise of tired people working,Harried with thoughts of war and lists of dead,His beauty met me like a fresh wind blowing,Clean boyish beauty and high-held head.Eyes that told secrets, lips that would not tell them,Fearless and shy the young unwearied eyes–Men die by millions now, because God blunders,Yet to have made this boy he must be wise.”

“Love In AutumnI sought among the drifting leaves, The golden leaves that once were green, To see if Love were hiding there And peeping out between.For thro’ the silver showers of May And thro’ the summer’s heavy heat, In vain I sought his golden head And light, fast-flying feet.Perhaps when all the world is bare And cruel winter holds the land, The Love that finds no place to hide Will run and catch my hand.I shall not care to have him then, I shall be bitter and a-cold — It grows too late for frolicking When all the world is old.Then little hiding Love, come forth, Come forth before the autumn goes, And let us seek thro’ ruined paths The garden’s last red rose.”

“The FlightLook 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 blowing 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?”

“What do I care, in the dreams and the languor of spring,That my songs do not show me at all?For they are a fragrance, and I am a flint and a fire,I am an answer, they are only a call”

“Spend all you have for loveliness,Buy it and never count the cost;For one white singing hour of peaceCount many a year of strife well lost,And for a breath of ecstasyGive all you have been, or could be.”

“Let me remember you, soon will the winter be on us,Snow-hushed and heartless.”

“If I Must GoIf I must go to heaven’s endClimbing the ages like a stair,Be near me and forever bendWith the same eyes above me there;Time will fly past us like leaves flying,We shall not heed, for we shall beBeyond living, beyond dying,Knowing and known unchangeably.”