Sara Teasdale

Two Songs for Solitude

    The Crystal Gazer

I shall gather myself into myself again,
    I shall take my scattered selves and make them one, 
I shall fuse them into a polished crystal ball
    Where I can see the moon and the flashing sun.

I shall sit like a sibyl, hour after hour intent,
    Watching the future come and the present go-- 
And the little shifting pictures of people rushing
    In tiny self-importance to and fro.

    The Solitary

Let them think I love them more than I do,
    Let them think I care, though I go alone, 
If it lifts their pride, what is it to me
    Who am self-complete as a flower or a stone?

It is one to me that they come or go
    If I have myself and the drive of my will, 
And strength to climb on a summer night
    And watch the stars swarm over the hill.

My heart has grown rich with the passing of years,
    I have less need now than when I was young 
To share myself with every comer,
    Or shape my thoughts into words with my tongue.