I have no riches but my thoughts. Yet these are wealth enough for me.

In The WoodI heard the water-fall rejoiceSinging like a choir,I saw the sun flash out of itAzure and amber fire. The earth was like an open flowerEnamelled and arrayed, The path I took to find...

And taken in exchange – my youth.

If I Must GoIf I must go to heaven’s endClimbing the ages like a stair,Be near me and forever bendWith the same eyes above me there;Time will fly past us like leaves flying,We shall not...

Winter StarsI went out at night alone;The young blood flowing beyond the seaSeemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings—I bore my sorrow heavily.But when I lifted up my headFrom shadows shaken on the snow,I saw...

The Long HillI must have passed the crest a while ago And now I am going down– Strange to have crossed the crest and not to know, But the brambles were always grabbing at the...

Of my own spirit let me be in sole though feeble mastery.

The NetI 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...

When I can look at Life with eyes, Grown calm and very coldly wise; Life will have given me the Truth, And taken in exchange – my youth

I Have Loved Hours at SeaI have loved hours at sea, gray cities,The fragile secret of a flower,Music, the making of a poemThat gave me heaven for an hour;First stars above a snowy hill,Voices of...

I went back to the clanging city, I went back where my old loves stayed, But my heart was full of my new love’s glory, My eyes were laughing and unafraid.I met one who had...

A BoyOut of the noise of tired people working,Harried with thoughts of war and lists of dead,His beauty met me like a fresh wind blowing,Clean boyish beauty and high-held head.Eyes that told secrets, lips that...

Though I know he loves me, tonight my heart is sad; his kiss was not so wonderful as all the dreams I had.

PainWaves are the sea’s white daughters,And raindrops the children of rain,But why for my shimmering bodyHave I a mother like Pain?Night is the mother of stars,And wind the mother of foam—The world is brimming with...

Then, like an old-time orator impressively he rose; I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.

You will recognize your own path when you come upon it because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.

I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.

Autumn DuskI saw above a sea of hillsA solitary planet shine,And there was no one, near or far,to keep the world from being mine.

There’s nothing half so real in life as the things you’ve done… inexorably, unalterably done.

This is the spot where I will lie When life has had enough of me, These are the grasses that will blow Above me like a living sea.These gay old lilies will not shrink To...

There Will Come Soft Rains There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;And frogs in the pool singing at night,And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;Robins will...

Beauty, more than bitterness, makes the heart break.

Never fear the thing you feel– Only by love is life made real

Life is but thought.

Stephen kissed me in the spring,Robin in the fall,But Colin only looked at meAnd never kissed at all.Stephen’s kiss was lost in jest,Robin’s lost in play,But the kiss in Colin’s eyesHaunts me night and day.

I would not have a god come in To shield me suddenly from sin, And set my house of life to rights; Nor angels with bright burning wings Ordering my earthly thoughts and things; Rather...

I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful When rain bends down the bough; And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted Than you are now.

Life has loveliness to sell, all beautiful and splendid things, blue waves whitened on a cliff, soaring fire that sways and sings, and children’s faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup.

The UnchangingSun-swept beaches with a light wind blowingFrom the immense blue circle of the sea,And the soft thunder where long waves whiten—These were the same for Sappho as for me.Two thousand years—much has gone by...

Oh who can tell the range of joy or set the bounds of beauty?

I am not yours, not lost in you,Not lost, although I long to beLost as a candle lit at noon,Lost as a snowflake in the sea.You love me, and I find you stillA spirit beautiful...

Oh I must pass nothing byWithout loving it much,The raindrop try with my lips,The grass with my touch;For how can I be sureI shall see againThe world on the first of MayShining after the rain?

There Will Be StarsThere will be stars over the place forever;Though the house we loved and the street we loved are lost,Every time the earth circles her orbitOn the night the autumn equinox is crossed,Two...

I found more joy in sorrow than you could find in joy.

Only In SleepOnly in sleep I see their faces,Children I played with when I was a child,Louise comes back with her brown hair braided,Annie with ringlets warm and wild.Only in sleep Time is forgotten –What...

Wisdom is not acquired save as the result of investigation.

BarterLife has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children’s faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness...

I almost gave my life long ago for a thingThat has gone to dust now, stinging my eyes—It is strange how often a heart must be brokenBefore the years can make it wise.

Let me remember you, soon will the winter be on us,Snow-hushed and heartless.

When I can look life in the eyes, grown calm and very coldly wise, life will have given me the truth, and taken in exchange – my youth.

Child, child, love while you can The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man; Never fear though it break your heart-Out of the wound new joy will start; Only love proudly and...

Life is a frail moth flyingCaught in the web of the years that pass.

In my heart’s most secret place,I pity them as angels do.

At NightLove said, “Wake still and think of me,”Sleep, “Close your eyes till break of day,”But Dreams came by and smilinglyGave both to Love and Sleep their way.

Spend all you have for loveliness,Buy it and never count the cost;For one white singing hour of peaceCount many a year of strife well lost,And for a breath of ecstasyGive all you have been, or...

Blue SquillsHow many million Aprils cameBefore I ever knewHow white a cherry bough could be,A bed of squills, how blue!And many a dancing AprilWhen life is done with me,Will lift the blue flame of the...

I shall make the most of all that comes: And the least of all that goes

It is strange how often a heart must be broken Before the years can make it wise.

I saw the sunset-colored sands, The Nile like flowing fire between, Where Rameses stares forth serene, And Ammon’s heavy temple stands.I saw the rocks where long ago, Above the sea that cries and breaks, Swift...

I have no riches but my thoughts, Yet these are wealth enough for me