267. I Give Thanks by Grace Fallow Norton. Monroe, Harriet, ed. 1917. The New Poetry: An Anthology

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

267. I Give Thanks

By Grace Fallow Norton


THERE’S one that I once loved so much
I am no more the same.
I give thanks for that transforming touch.
I tell you not his name.

He has become a sign to me	5
For flowers and for fire.
For song he is a sign to me
And for the broken lyre.

And I have known him in a book
And never touched his hand.	10
And he is dead—I need not took
For him through his green land.

Heaven may not be. I have no faith,
But this desire I have—
To take my soul on my last breath,	15
To lift it like a wave,

And surge unto his star and say,
His friendship had been heaven;
And pray, for clouds that closed his day
May light at last be given!	20

And say, he shone at noon so bright
I learned to run and rejoice!
And beg him for one last delight—
The true sound of his voice.

There’s one that once moved me so much	25
I am no more the same;
And I pray I too, I too, may touch
Some heart with singing flame.