Poem by Richard Watson Gilder

The New Day. Part 1. 4. Hesitation

            (A PORTRAIT)

To-day I saw the picture of a man
     ⁠Who, issuing from a wood, doth thrust apart
⁠     Strong-matted, thorny branches, whose keen smart
     ⁠He heeds in nowise, if he only can
Win the red rose a maiden, like a fan,
⁠     Holds daintily. She, listening to her heart,
⁠     Hath looked another way. Ah, would she start,
⁠     And weep, and suffer sorrow, if he ran—
For utter love of her, forever back
⁠     Into the shadows, which thrice darker were
⁠     Because her whiteness made their black more black!
A little while he waits, lest he should err.
⁠     Awhile he wonders, secretly.—Alack!
     ⁠He could so gladly die or live for her.

1. The New Day. Part 4. 17. “He Knows Not the Path of Duty”
2. The New Day. Part 3. 12. Denial
3. The New Day. Part 3. 19. Thistle-Down
4. The New Day. Part 4. 4. Song (Not from the whole wide world I chose thee)
5. The New Day. Part 3. 22. The Lover's Lord and Master

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