< Mandragora
For works with similar titles, see Appeal.
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THE APPEAL


OH that at this last hour
  The word might be given me
To tell you the power — the power
    That you have over me!

Oh that I could enfold
    Dyed in purple and blue,
Writ in gold upon gold,
    The feeling I have for you!

What can I give to you
    To take on your cruel way,
That will cry at your heart all night
    And cry at your heart all day!

What can I find for you
    To place close to your breast —
Something fatal and true.
    Something to trouble your rest?

O, wraith of the rain and the mist,
    How can I live without you?
You float on a sea of amethyst
    And the moon is silver about you!

You float and drift on a shadowy tide,
    And the feathered reeds bend low.

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And the moonlit pastures yearn to your side,
    And the forests beckon you.

Each night, each night ere my eyelids fall
    I shall feel you calling to me,
With a low persistent plaintive call.
    Like a sea-bird lost on the sea!

And I shall answer and you will hear,
    And above the wind and rain
The people a strange sobbing will hear;
    We shall be together again.

Oh that at this last hour
    The word might be given me
To tell you the power — the power
    That you have over me!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927.

The author died in 1963, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

 
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