Amy Levy
Xantippe and Other Verse
(1881)
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About the print version:
Xantippe and other verse
by
Amy Levy
Cambridge
E. Johnson, Trinity Street
1881
********
In memoriam G.P.
'Aus meinen grossen Schmerzen
Mach' ich die kleinen Lieder'
Heine
'Xantippe' appeared in the University Magazine for May, 1880, and 'Run to Death'
in the Victoria Magazine for July, 1879. The other verses in this volume have
not been published before.
Xantippe.
(A FRAGMENT.)
WHAT, have I waked again ? I never thought
To see the rosy dawn, or ev'n this grey,
Dull, solemn stillness, ere the dawn has come.
The lamp burns low ; low burns the lamp of life :
The still morn stays expectant, and my soul,
All weighted with a passive wonderment,
Waiteth and watcheth, waiteth for the dawn.
Come hither, maids ; too soundly have ye slept
That should have watched me ; nay, I would not chide-Oft have I chidden, yet I would not chide
In this last hour ;--now all should be at peace.
I have been dreaming in a troubled sleep
Of weary days I thought not to recall ;
Of stormy days, whose storms are hushed long since ;
Of gladsome days, of sunny days ; alas !
In dreaming, all their sunshine seem'd so sad,
As though the current of the dark To-Be
Had flow'd, prophetic, through the happy hours.
And yet, full well, I know it was not thus ;
I mind me sweetly of the summer days,
When, leaning from the lattice, I have caught
The fair, far glimpses of a shining sea ;
And, nearer, of tall ships which thronged the bay,
And stood out blackly from a tender sky
All flecked with sulphur, azure, and bright gold ;
And in the still, clear air have heard the hum
Of distant voices ; and methinks there rose
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