| William Wilfred Campbell, comp. The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse. 1913. | | | Sappho Lyrics
XXIII. ‘I loved thee, Atthis, in the long ago’ | | By Bliss Carman (1861–1929) |
| | | I LOVED thee, Atthis, in the long ago, | |
| When the great oleanders were in flower | |
| In the broad herded meadows full of sun. | |
| And we would often at the fall of dusk | |
| Wander together by the silver stream, | 5 |
| When the soft grass-heads were all wet with dew, | |
| And purple-misted in the fading light. | |
| And joy I knew and sorrow at thy voice, | |
| And the superb magnificence of love,— | |
| The loneliness that saddens solitude, | 10 |
| And the sweet speech that makes it durable,— | |
| The bitter longing and the keen desire, | |
| The sweet companionship through quiet days | |
| In the slow ample beauty of the world, | |
| And the unutterable glad release | 15 |
| Within the temple of the holy night. | |
| O Atthis, how I loved thee long ago | |
| In that fair perished summer by the sea! | | | | |
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