Helen of Troy, and Other Poems

Name: Helen of Troy, and Other Poems
Author: Sara Teasdale

by Sara Teasdale

Pages: about 31
Category: Literature & Fiction
Language: English
Reading time: 34 min at 250 wpm

Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 19 min at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

You bound strong sandals on my feet, You gave me bread and wine, And bade me out, 'neath sun and stars, For all the world was mine.
Oh take the sandals off my feet, You know not what you do; For all my world is in your arms, My sun and stars are you.
If I were a bee and you were a rose, Would you let me in when the gray wind blows? Would you hold your petals wide apart, Would you let me in to find your heart, If you were a rose?
"If I were a rose and you were a bee, You should never go when you came to me, I should hold my love on my heart at last, I should close my leaves and keep you fast, If you were a bee."
I made a hundred little songs That told the joy and pain of love, And sang them blithely, tho' I knew No whit thereof.
I was a weaver deaf and blind; A miracle was wrought for me, But I have lost my skill to weave Since I can see.
For while I sang--ah swift and strange! Love passed and touched me on the brow, And I who made so many songs Am silent now.
In the spring I asked the daisies If his words were true, And the clever little daisies Always knew.
Now the fields are brown and barren, Bitter autumn blows, And of all the stupid asters Not one knows.
O mother, I am sick of love, I cannot laugh nor lift my head, My bitter dreams have broken me, I would my love were dead.
"Drink of the draught I brew for thee, Thou shalt have quiet in its stead."
Where is the silver in the rain, Where is the music in the sea, Where is the bird that sang all day To break my heart with melody?

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Helen of Troy, and Other Poems

From the opening

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