Sara Teasdale, comp. (1884–1933).
The Answering Voice: One Hundred Love Lyrics by Women. 1917. | | | | “I Leaned out My Window” | | By Jean Ingelaw |
| | | I LEANED out my window, I smelt the white clover, | |
| Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate; | |
| Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover— | |
| Hush, nightingale, hush! Oh, sweet nightingale, wait | |
| Till I listen and hear | 5 |
| If a step draweth near, | |
| For my love he is late! | |
| |
| “The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer, | |
| A cluster of stars hangs like fruit in the tree, | |
| The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer: | 10 |
| To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see? | |
| Let the star-clusters grow, | |
| Let the sweet waters flow, | |
| And cross quickly to me. | |
| |
| “You night moths that hover where honey brims over | 15 |
| From sycamore blooms, or settle or sleep; | |
| You glowworms, shine out, and the pathway discover | |
| To him that comes darkling along the rough steep. | |
| Ah, my sailor, make haste, | |
| For the time runs to waste, | 20 |
| And my love lieth deep— | |
| |
| “Too deep for swift telling; and yet, my one lover, | |
| I ’ve conned thee an answer, it waits thee to-night.” | |
| By the sycamore passed he, and through the white clover, | |
| Then all the sweet speech I had fashioned took flight; | 25 |
| But I ’ll love him more, more | |
| Than e’er wife loved before, | |
| Be the day dark or bright. | | | | |
|
|
