The town down the river; a book of poems/Normandy

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

NORMANDY

(From the French of Bérat)

When all the land's alive again
With winter far away,
And heaven over France again
Is fairer than to-day,
When spring puts off her gray for green,
And swallows all return—
Then I'll go back to Normandy,
The land where I was born.

I know the fields of Switzerland,
The peaks and icy meres;
I know the skies of Italy,
I know the gondoliers;
But let me wander where I will,
I say that I'll return
To Normandy, my Normandy,
The land where I was born.

At last there comes a time to us
When all dreams lose their glow;
There comes a time when in our souls
We need the long ago;
So when my songs are cold in me,
And love will not return—
Then I'll go back to Normandy,
The land where I was born.