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There Will Come Soft Rains

by Beautiful William

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1.
Debtor 02:46
So long as my spirit still Is glad of breath And lifts its plumes of pride In the dark face of death; While I am curious still Of love and fame, Keeping my heart too high For the years to tame, How can I quarrel with fate Since I can see I am a debtor to life, Not life to me?
2.
My soul is a dark ploughed field In the cold rain; My soul is a broken field Ploughed by pain. Where grass and bending flowers Were growing, The field lies broken now For another sowing. Great Sower, when you tread My field again, Scatter the furrows there With better grain.
3.
My heart is heavy with many a song Like ripe fruit bearing down the tree, But I can never give you one – My songs do not belong to me. Yet in the evening, in the dusk When moths go to and fro, In the gray hour if the fruit has fallen, Take it, no one will know.
4.
Lost Things 03:03
Oh, I could let the world go by, Its loud new wonders and its wars, But how will I give up the sky When winter dusk is set with stars? And I could let the cities go, Their changing customs and their creeds,— But oh, the summer rains that blow In silver on the jewel-weeds!
5.
Desert Pools 03:34
I love too much; I am a river Surging with spring that seeks the sea, I am too generous a giver, Love will not stoop to drink of me. His feet will turn to desert places Shadowless, reft of rain and dew, Where stars stare down with sharpened faces From heavens pitilessly blue. And there at midnight sick with faring, He will stoop down in his desire To slake the thirst grown past all bearing In stagnant water keen as fire.
6.
Nightfall 04:21
We will never walk again As we used to walk at night, Watching our shadows lengthen Under the gold street-light When the snow was new and white. We will never walk again Slowly, we two, In spring when the park is sweet With midnight and with dew, And the passers-by are few. I sit and think of it all, And the blue June twilight dies,— Down in the clanging square A street-piano cries And stars come out in the skies.
7.
The Mystery 02:54
Your eyes drink of me, Love makes them shine, Your eyes that lean So close to mine. We have long been lovers, We know the range Of each other’s moods And how they change; But when we look At each other so Then we feel How little we know; The spirit eludes us, Timid and free — Can I ever know you Or you know me?
8.
I know the stars by their names, Aldebaran, Altair, And I know the path they take Up heaven’s broad blue stair. I know the secrets of men By the look of their eyes, Their gray thoughts, their strange thoughts Have made me sad and wise. But your eyes are dark to me Though they seem to call and call — I cannot tell if you love me Or do not love me at all. I know many things, But the years come and go, I shall die not knowing The thing I long to know.
9.
The Flight 02:48
Look 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 windy 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?
10.
The Net 03:50
I made you many and many a song, Yet never one told all you are — It was as though a net of words Were flung to catch a star; It was as though I curved my hand And dipped sea-water eagerly, Only to find it lost the blue Dark splendor of the sea.
11.
Debt 04:06
What do I owe to you Who loved me deep and long? You never gave my spirit wings Or gave my heart a song. But oh, to him I loved, Who loved me not at all, I owe the little open gate That led thru heaven’s wall.
12.
(WAR TIME) There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white, Robins will wear their feathery fire Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone.
13.
The Unseen 02:51
Death went up the hall Unseen by every one, Trailing twilight robes Past the nurse and the nun. He paused at every door And listened to the breath Of those who did not know How near they were to Death. Death went up the hall Unseen by nurse and nun; He passed by many a door— But he entered one.

credits

released December 2, 2017

Lyrics by Sara Teasdale. These poems appear in her published volumes Rivers to the Sea (1915) and Flame and Shadow (1920).

Music by Beautiful William: Sage Harrington (ASCAP) and Meredith Wilder. MeredithWilder.me

Recorded and mixed with love by Sage Harrington at Ladies Chain studio, Albuquerque, NM. SageHarrington.com

Mastered by Edward Harrington. EdwardHarringtonAudio.com

Read the full poems, watch the music videos and more at BeautifulWilliam.com

(C) (P) 2017

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