Sara Teasdale, comp. (1884–1933).
The Answering Voice: One Hundred Love Lyrics by Women. 1917.

“I Sat among the Green Leaves”

Marjorie L. C. Pickthall

I SAT among the green leaves, and heard the nuts falling,

The blood-red butterflies were gold against the sun,

But in between the silence and the sweet birds calling

The nuts fell one by one.

Why should they fall and the year but half over?

Why should sorrow seek me and I so young and kind?

The leaf is on the bough and the dew is on the clover,

But the green nuts are falling in the wind.

Oh, I gave my lips away and all my soul behind them.

Why should trouble follow and the quick tears start?

The little birds may love and fly with only God to mind them,

But the green nuts are falling on my heart.