Poems & poèmes/I Built a Fire

by Natalie Clifford Barney

 

I BUILT A FIRE

I built a fire to welcome her.
And my voice sighed
Aloud her name. To be with her
This night, I would have died . . .
Upon the hours, all in vain
My tears, the rain,
Fall uselessiy, unceasingly . . .
The heavy door
Has closed again . . . again !
I wait, yet know she will not brave
The midnight, — give
One hour more, so utterly to live ;
Wise and mild and shy,
Afraid as the heart of a child,
I know her heart to be.
And mine, that naught will save,
   Must love and live and crave
And break unceasingly !

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