Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

There Was a Time

Oscar Williams

THERE was a time when I was shy and lonely,

And stood in strange bewilderment apart;

And no one spoke to me, and silence only

Would fold my songs into her tender heart.

There was a time when only windy darkness

Would fan my dreams with glamoured loveliness.

But you have come, and nights are filled with starkness;

And I am lonely for my loneliness.

Oh, you have come—and silence is a stranger,

And darkness keeps aloof from my distress;

And you—oh, you are all too fraught with danger,

And I am lonely for my loneliness.