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1867–1900

CHANSON SANS PAROLES

Ernest Christopher Dowson

In the deep violet air, Not a leaf is stirred; There is no sound heard, But afar, the rare

Trilled voice of a bird. Is the wood's dim heart, And the fragrant pine, Incense, and a shrine

Of her coming? Apart, I wait for a sign. What the sudden hush said, She will hear, and forsake,

Swift, for my sake, Her green, grassy bed: She will hear and awake! She will hearken and glide,

From her place of deep rest, Dove-eyed, with the breast Of a dove, to my side: The pines bow their crest.

I wait for a sign: The leaves to be waved, The tall tree-tops laved In a flood of sunshine,

This world to be saved! In the deep violet air, Not a leaf is stirred; There is no sound heard,

But afar, the rare Trilled voice of a bird.

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CHANSON SANS PAROLES · Ernest Christopher Dowson · Poetry Cove