Poems (Tree)/I Feel in Me a Manifold Desire
I FEEL in me a manifold desireFrom many lands and times and clamouring peoples,And I the QueenOf crowding vagabonds,Ghosts of lost years in seeming fancy dress,With pathos of torn lacesAnd broken swords;Cut-throats and kings and poetsWho have loved meIn visions wild, not knowingWhat I was.In me no endEven where the last contentClasps on my head a crownOf shining endurance—I slip from all my robesInto the rags of a tattered romance;The stars crowd at the window,Their jealous destinyRaps at the door—They bob and wink and leer,And I must leave the lamplight for the roadTo keep strange company.Farewell and Hail!
1917