Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Songs from the Turret. 1. In the day my thoughts are tender

In the day my thoughts are tender
   When I muse on my ladye fair.
There is never one to offend her,
   For each is pure as a prayer.
They float like spirits above her,
   About her and always near;
And they scarce dare sigh that they love her,
   Because she would blush to hear.

But in dreams my thoughts grow bolder;
   And close to my lips of fire,
I reach out my arms and enfold her,
   My ladye, my heart's desire.
And she who, in earthly places,
   Seems cold as the stars above,
Unmasks in those fair dream spaces
   And gives me love for love.

Oh day, with your thoughts of duty
   Cross over the sunset streams,
And give me the night of beauty
   And love in the Land of Dreams.
For there in the mystic, shady,
   Fair isle of the Slumber Sea,
I read the heart of my ladye
   That here she hides from me.