Love's Caution

Tell them, when you are home again,
    How warm the air was now;
How silent were the birds and leaves,
    And of the moon's full glow;
        And how we saw afar
        A falling star:
It was a tear of pure delight
Ran down the face of Heaven this happy night.

Our kisses are but love in flower,
    Until that greater time
When, gathering strength, those flowers take wing,
    And Love can reach his prime.
        And now, my heart's delight,
        Good night, good night;
Give me the last sweet kiss,
But do not breathe at home one word of this!

William Henry Davies

William Henry Davies was a Welsh poet and writer, best known for his poetry depicting tramp life and the natural world. Davies spent much of his life as a wanderer in the UK and the USA. Despite his lifestyle, he became one of the most popular poets of his time, with works including 'Leisure', which begins with the famous lines, 'What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?'. His autobiography, 'The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp', details his adventures and is considered a classic.

William Henry Davies

Who I Know

William Henry Davies, Simple Poetry

Birds

William Henry Davies, Simple Poetry

The Starved

William Henry Davies, Simple Poetry

Seeking Joy

William Henry Davies, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Love's Inspiration

Give me the chance, and I will make
Thy thoughts of me, like worms this day,
Take wings and change to butterflies
That in the golden light shall play;
Thy cold, clear heart, the quiet pool
That never heard Love's nightingale,
Shall hear his music night and day,
And in no seasons shall it fail.

I'll make thy happy heart my port,
Where all my thoughts are anchored fast;
Thy meditations, full of praise,
The flags of glory on each mast.
I'll make my Soul thy shepherd soon,
With all thy thoughts my grateful flock;
And thou shalt say, each time I go,
How long, my Love, ere thou'lt come back?

William Henry Davies

Love's Sleep.

(Vers de Société.)


We'll cover Love with roses,
    And sweet sleep he shall take.
None but a fool supposes
    Love always keeps awake.
I've known loves without number.
    True loves were they, and tried;
And just for want of slumber
    They pined away and died.

Our love was bright and cheerful
    A little while agone;
Now he is pale and tearful,
    And - yes, I've seen him yawn.
So tired is he of kisses
    That he can only weep;
The one dear thing he misses
    And longs for now is sleep.

We could not let him leave us
    One time, he was so dear,
But now it would not grieve us
    If he slept half a year.
For he has had his season,
    Like the lily and the rose,
And it but stands to reason

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Welcome

Come in the evening, or come in the morning;
Come when you re lookd for, or come without warning:
Kisses and welcome you ll find here before you,
And the oftener you come here the more I ll adore you!
Light is my heart since the day we were plighted;
Red is my cheek that they told me was blighted;
The green of the trees looks far greener than ever,
And the linnets are singing, True lovers dont sever!

I ll pull you sweet flowers, to wear if you choose them,
Or, after youve kissd them, they ll lie on my bosom;
I ll fetch from the mountain its breeze to inspire you;
I ll fetch from my fancy a tale that wont tire you.
Oh! your steps like the rain to the summer-vexd farmer,
Or sabre and shield to a knight without armor;
I ll sing you sweet songs till t...

Thomas Osborne Davis

Young Love

I

I cannot heed the words they say,
The lights grow far away and dim,
Amid the laughing men and maids
My eyes unbidden seek for him.

I hope that when he smiles at me
He does not guess my joy and pain,
For if he did, he is too kind
To ever look my way again.

II

I have a secret in my heart
No ears have ever heard,
And still it sings there day by day
Most like a caged bird.

And when it beats against the bars,
I do not set it free,
For I am happier to know
It only sings for me.

III

I wrote his name along the beach,
I love the letters so.
Far up it seemed and out of reach,
For still the tide was low.

But oh, the sea came creeping up,
And washed the name away,
And on the san...

Sara Teasdale

Love In A Garden.

I.

Between the rose's and the canna's crimson,
Beneath her window in the night I stand;
The jeweled dew hangs little stars, in rims, on
The white moonflowers each a spirit hand
That points the path to mystic shadowland.

Awaken, sweet and fair!
And add to night try grace!
Suffer its loveliness to share
The white moon of thy face,
The darkness of thy hair.
Awaken, sweet and fair!

II.

A moth, like down, swings on th' althæa's pistil,
Ghost of a tone that haunts its bell's deep dome;
And in the August-lily's cone of crystal
A firefly blurs, the lantern of a gnome,
Green as a gem that gleams through hollow foam.

Approach! the moment flies!
Thou sweetheart of the South!
Come! mingle with night's mysteries
The re...

Madison Julius Cawein

At Dusk

At dusk, like flowers that shun the day,
Shy thoughts from dim recesses break,
And plead for words I dare not say
For your sweet sake.

My early love! my first, my last!
Mistakes have been that both must rue;
But all the passion of the past
Survives for you.

The tender message Hope might send
Sinks fainting at the lips of speech,
For, are you lover are you friend,
That I would reach?

How much to-night Id give to win
A banished peace an old repose;
But here I sit, and sigh, and sin
When no one knows.

The stern, the steadfast reticence,
Which made the dearest phrases halt,
And checked a first and finest sense,
Was not my fault.

I held my words because there grew
About my life persistent pride;
And you w...

Henry Kendall