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Woman's Love Letters

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<h2>Loneliness.</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Dear, I am lonely, for the bay is still As any hill-girt lake; the long brown beach Lies bare and wet. As far as eye can reach There is no motion. Even on the hill Where the breeze loves to wander I can see No stir of leaves, nor any waving tree. </div> <div class="stanza"> There is a great red cliff that fronts my view A bare, unsightly thing; it angers me With its unswerving-grim monotony. The mackerel weir, with branching boughs askew Stands like a fire-swept forest, while the sea Laps it, with soothing sighs, continually. [Pg 55]</div> <div class="stanza"> There are no tempests in this sheltered bay, The stillness frets me, and I long to be Where winds sweep strong and blow tempestuously, To stand upon some hill-top far away And face a gathering gale, and let the stress Of Nature's mood subdue my restlessness. </div> <div class="stanza"> An impulse seizes me, a mad desire To tear away that red-browed cliff, to sweep Its crest of trees and huts into the deep; To force a gap by axe, or storm, or fire, And let rush in with motion glad and free The rolling waves of the wild wondrous sea. </div> <div class="stanza"> Sometimes I wonder if I am the child Of calm, law-loving parents, or a stray From some wild gypsy camp. I cannot stay Quiet among my fellows; when this wild Longing for freedom takes me I must fly To my dear woods and know my liberty. [Pg 56]</div> <div class="stanza"> It is this cringing to a social law That I despise, these changing, senseless forms Of fashion! And until a thousand storms Of God's impatience shall reveal the flaw In man's pet system, he will weave the spell About his heart and dream that all is well. </div> <div class="stanza"> Ah! Life is hard, Dear Heart, for I am left To battle with my old-time fears alone I must live calmly on, and make no moan Though of my hoped-for happiness bereft. Thou wilt not come, and still the red cliff lies Hiding my ocean from these longing eyes. [Pg 57]</div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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