Poem by 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.

1. Swans
2. The Ghost
3. The River
4. November
5. The Song for Colin

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