The Poetry Corner

Launa Dee.

By Bliss Carman (William)

Weary, oh, so weary With it all! Sunny days or dreary-- How they pall! Why should we be heroes, Launa Dee, Striving to no winning? Let the world be Zero's! As in the beginning Let it be! What good comes of toiling, When all's done? Frail green sprays for spoiling Of the sun; Laurel leaf or myrtle, Love or fame-- Ah, what odds what spray, sweet? Time, that makes life fertile, Makes its blooms decay, sweet, As they came. Lie here with me dreaming, Cheek to cheek, Lithe limbs twined and gleaming, Brown and sleek; Like two serpents coiling In their lair. Where's the good of wreathing Sprays for Time's despoiling? Let me feel your breathing In my hair. You and I together-- Was it so? In the August weather Long ago! Did we kiss and fellow, Side by side, Till the sunbeams quickened From our stalks great yellow Sunflowers, till we sickened There and died? Were we tigers creeping Through the glade Where our prey lay sleeping, Unafraid, In some Eastern jungle? Better so. I am sure the snarling Beasts could never bungle Life as men do, darling, Who half know. Ah, if all of life, love, Were the living! Just to cease from strife, love, And from grieving; Let the swift world pass us, You and me, Stilled from all aspiring,-- Sinai nor Parnassus Longer worth desiring, Launa Dee! Just to live like lilies In the lake! Where no thought nor will is, To mistake! Just to lose the human Eyes that weep! Just to cease from seeming Longer man and woman! Just to reach the dreaming And the sleep!