Image Courtesy: geralt | Pixabay
I loved every word in this book.
It made me cry, smile, laugh, and most importantly it made me feel that I am everything to myself even when the world turns away its eyes from me.
The poems I have loved enough are listed below:
1. Twilight
Dreamily over the roofs
The cold spring rain is falling;
Out in the lonely tree
A bird is calling, calling.
Slowly over the earth
The wings of night are falling;
My heart like the bird in the tree
Is calling, calling and calling.
2. Night Song At Amalfi
I asked the heaven of stars
What I should give my love
It answered me with silence,
Silence above.
I asked the darkened sea
Down where the fishers go
It answered me with silence,
Silence below.
Oh, I could give him weeping
Or I could give him song
But how can I give silence
My whole life long.
3. The Look
Strephon kissed me in the spring
Robin in the fall
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.
Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest
Robin’s lost in play
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.
4. A Winter Night
My window-pane is starred with frost
The world is bitter cold to-night
The moon is cruel and the wind
Is like a two-edged sword to smite.
God pity all the homeless ones
The beggars pacing to and fro
God pity all the poor to-night
Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow.
My room is like a bit of June
Warm and close-curtained fold on fold
But somewhere, like a homeless child
My heart is crying in the cold.
5. The Song For Colin
I sang a song at dusking time
Beneath the evening star
And Terence left his latest rhyme
To answer from afar.
Pierrot laid down his lute to weep
And sighed, “She sings for me.”
But Colin slept a careless sleep
Beneath an apple tree.
6. Debt
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 open gate
That led through heaven’s wall.
7. Faults
They came to tell your faults to me
They named them over one by one
I laughed aloud when they were done
I knew them all so well before
Oh, they were blind, too blind to see
Your faults had made me love you more.
8. Buried Love
I have come to bury love
Beneath a tree
In the forest tall and black
Where none can see.
I shall put no flowers at his head,
Nor stone at his feet
For the mouth I loved so much
Was bittersweet.
I shall go no more to his grave
For the woods are cold
I shall gather as much of joy
As my hands can hold.
I shall stay all day in the sun
Where the wide winds blow
But oh, I shall cry at night
When none will know.
9. I Shall Not Care
When I am dead and over me bright April
Shakes out her rain-drenched hair
Though you should lean above me broken-hearted
I shall not care.
I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful
When rain bends down the bough
And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted
Then you are now.
10. The Kiss
I hoped that he would love me
And he has kissed my mouth
But I am like a stricken bird
That cannot reach the south
For though I know he loves me
To-night my heart is sad
His kiss was not so wonderful
As all the dreams I had.
11. Lessons
Unless I learn to ask no help
From any other soul but mine
To seek no strength in waving reeds
Nor shade beneath a straggling pine
Unless I learn to look at Grief
Unshrinking from her tear-blind eyes
And take from Pleasure fearlessly
Whatever gifts will make me wise
Unless I learn these things on earth
Why was I ever given birth?
12. The Flight
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 blowing 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.
13. I Would Live In Your Love
I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea
Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes
I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me
I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul as it leads.
14. The Wind
A wind is blowing over my soul
I hear it cry the whole night through
Is there no peace for me on earth
Except with you
Alas, the wind has made me wise
Over my naked soul it blew
There is no peace for me on earth
Even with you
15. Other Men
When I talk with other men
I always think of you
Your words are keener than their words
And they are gentler, too.
When I look at other men
I wish your face were there
With its gray eyes and dark skin
And tossed black hair.
When I think of other men
Dreaming alone by day
The thought of you like a strong wind
Blows the dreams away.
Image Courtesy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1294049.Love_Songs
Gurpreet Dhariwal is the author of four books. Her books are available on Amazon, Flipkart, and BlueRose. Connect with Gurpreet at www.gurpreetdhariwal.com. To book one on one session: gurpreetdhariwal.com/online-appointments