Grace Fallow Norton

OH hush, my heart, while I recall

The rosy-footed years

When I had no heart at all,

Only quick smiles and tears.

Oh sweet it was and safe it was

And oh, I would I were

Still running with white dreams that pass

Like clouds across the air.

Oh hush, my heart, while I recall

The silent-sandaled days

When I had no heart at all,

Only my soul’s white ways.

Oh sweet it was and very strange

To find a white soul so;

Oh would that I again might range,

Heartless, her fields of snow.

Oh would I had no heart at all!

For oh, the stormy hour

When my hot heart rose to a call,

Bearing a crimson flower.

Alas, my soul’s wide wanderings,

My limitless desire!

Now all my dreams have heavy wings

And hover round a fire.

Now all my world is made of hands

That cling to mine again,

And I am bound with iron bands

Of passion and of pain.