| J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921. | | | | Cambridge in the Long | | By Amy Levy (1861–1889) |
| | | WHERE drowsy sound of college-chimes | |
| Across the air is blown, | |
| And drowsy fragrance of the limes, | |
| I lie and dream alone. | |
| |
| A dazzling radiance reigns o’er all— | 5 |
| O’er gardens densely green, | |
| O’er old grey bridges and the small, | |
| Slow flood which slides between. | |
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| This is the place; it is not strange, | |
| But known of old and dear. | 10 |
| What went I forth to seek? The change | |
| Is mine; why am I here? | |
| |
| Alas, in vain I turned away, | |
| I fled the town in vain; | |
| The strenuous life of yesterday | 15 |
| Calleth me back again. | |
| |
| And was it peace I came to seek? | |
| Yet here, where memories throng, | |
| Ev’n here, I know the past is weak, | |
| I know the present strong. | 20 |
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| This drowsy fragrance, silent heat, | |
| Suit not my present mind, | |
| Whose eager thought goes out to meet | |
| The life it left behind. | |
| |
| Spirit with sky to change; such hope, | 25 |
| An idle one we know; | |
| Unship the oars, make loose the rope, | |
| Push off the boat and go … | |
| |
| Ah, would what binds me could have been | |
| Thus loosened at a touch! | 30 |
| This pain of living is too keen, | |
| Of loving, is too much. | | | | |
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