Nocturne of Remembered Spring Author:Conrad Aiken Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOCTURNE IN A MINOR KEY I will say: I walked alone in whistling darkness. Or heard a rush of rain through windless air. Or stood in dust with yellow leaves ar... more »ound me. Or dreamed I saw a sea-maid comb her hair. But why recite these things? You will not hear me, Or if you heard me, would not care. I will say: I saw a sea-gull crossing water, Or suddenly in the midnight heard a cry. Or woke from sleep to hear the green leaves rustle. Or saw bright windows in a misty sky. I will say, I walked alone, and heard none call me; You will not care, nor ask me why . . . These are the notes whereof my life makes music. These are the hurrying notes of pain That whirl like windy papers under streetlamps, Blown through the spacious darkness of my brain. I will say: these thing are trifles, yet they kill me. Shall we rehearse our play again? Be patient, press your palm against my heartbeats, Reverse my heart like an hour-glass, And watch the downward sifting of my minutes Until the time when I must pass . . . You shall have heard, at least, a poignant music And seen futility; You will know better than to weep for me. I am the one—since I must now confess it— Who came too late, and found all windows dark. I am the one who sat on dew-wet benches And watched the fountain in the deserted park. I am the one who walked in a grass-grown street Hearing no sound save my own feet. I saw the darkness rising like a wall. I heard old stars chime out and crack and fall. I turned to the east and saw it red and grey, Saw lovely faces blown like leaves away. . I heard slow waves of music lapse to silence, And wished to speak, yet had no word to say. I am the one whom ancient spring returning With sound of leaves could not assuage. I am the one who ...« less