Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume I. Of Home: of Friendship. 1904. | | | | Poems of Home: I. About Children | | “She came and went” | | James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) |
| | | AS a twig trembles, which a bird | |
| Lights on to sing, then leaves unbent, | |
| So is my memory thrilled and stirred;— | |
| I only know she came and went. | |
| |
| As clasps some lake, by gusts unriven, | 5 |
| The blue dome’s measureless content, | |
| So my soul held that moment’s heaven;— | |
| I only know she came and went. | |
| |
| As, at one bound, our swift Spring heaps | |
| The orchards full of bloom and scent, | 10 |
| So clove her May my wintry sleeps;— | |
| I only know she came and went. | |
| |
| An angel stood and met my gaze, | |
| Through the low doorway of my tent; | |
| The tent is struck, the vision stays;— | 15 |
| I only know she came and went. | |
| |
| Oh, when the room grows slowly dim, | |
| And when the oil is nearly spent, | |
| One gush of light these eyes will brim, | |
| Only to think she came and went. | 20 | | | |
|
|
