The Project Gutenberg eBook of April twilights and other poems, by Willa Cather
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Release Date: January 17, 2021 [eBook #64318]
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APRIL TWILIGHTS AND OTHER POEMS
***MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
_The verses in Part I of this volume are reprinted from an early volume_, APRIL TWILIGHTS, _published in 1903. Those in Part II are of later composition, and for permission to republish them I am indebted to the editors of_ SCRIBNER’S MAGAZINE, MCCLURE’S MAGAZINE, _and the_ CENTURY MAGAZINE.
Grandmither, think not I forget, when I come back to town, An’ wander the old ways again an’ tread them up an’ down. I never smell the clover bloom, nor see the swallows pass, Without I mind how good ye were unto a little lass. I never hear the winter rain a-pelting all night through, Without I think and mind me of how cold it falls on you. And if I come not often to your bed beneath the thyme, Mayhap ’t is that I’d change wi’ ye, and gie my bed for thine, Would like to sleep in thine.
I never hear the summer winds among the roses blow, Without I wonder why it was ye loved the lassie so. Ye gave me cakes and lollipops and pretty toys a score,-- I never thought I should come back and ask ye now for more. Grandmither, gie me your still, white hands, that lie upon your breast, For mine do beat the dark all night and never find me rest; They grope among the shadows an’ they beat the cold black air, They go seekin’ in the darkness, an’ they never find him there, An’ they never find him there.
Grandmither, gie me your sightless eyes, that I may never see His own a-burnin’ full o’ love that must not shine for me. Grandmither, gie me your peaceful lips, white as the kirkyard snow, For mine be red wi’ burnin’ thirst, an’ he must never know. Grandmither, gie me your clay-stopped ears, that I may never hear My lad a-singin’ in the night when I am sick wi’ fear; A-singin’ when the moonlight over a’ the land is white-- Aw God! I’ll up an’ go to him a-singin’ in the night, A-callin’ in the night.