Poem by Dora Sigerson Shorter

Wishes

I wish we could live as the flowers live,
   To breathe and to bloom in the summer and sun;
To slumber and sway in the heart of the night,
   And to die when our glory had done.

I wish we could love as the bees love,
   To rest or to roam without sorrow or sigh;
With laughter, when, after the wooer had won,
   Love flew with a whispered good-bye.

I wish we could die as the birds die,
   To fly and to fall when our beauty was best:
No trammels of time on the years of our face;
   And to leave but an empty nest.

1. Unknown Ideal
2. The Fair Little Maiden
3. The Ballad of the Little Black Hound
4. When I Shall Rise
5. Vale

Ella Wilcox Wishes ("Whatever you want, if you wish for it long")

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