Poem by Richard Watson Gilder

The New Day. Part 3. 17. Words in Absence

I would that my words were as my fingers,
⁠     So that my Love might feel them move
Slowly over her brow, as lingers
     The sunset wind o'er the world of its love.
I would that my words were as the beating
Of her own heart, that keeps repeating
⁠     My name through the livelong day and the night;
And when my Love her lover misses,—
     ⁠Longs for and loves in the dark and the light,—
I would that my words were as my kisses.
I would that my words her life might fill—
⁠     Be to her earth, and air, and skies.
I would that my words were husht and still—
     ⁠Lost in the light of her eyes.

1. The New Day. Part 3. 23. Song (My love grew with the growing night)
2. The Celestial Passion. Part 2. 3. A Madonna of Fra Lippo Lippi
3. The New Day. Part 4. 2. The Mirror
4. The Celestial Passion. Part 1. 2. The Poet and His Master
5. The New Day. Part 3. 6. “Love Me Not, Love, for That I First Loved Thee”

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