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. The Kine of My Father
2. Sixteen Dead Men
3. The Fairy Changeling
4. An Imperfect Revolution
5. You Will Not Come Again

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

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