Bliss Carman (1861-1929)
"I Loved Thee, Atthis, in the Long Ago"
(Sappho XXIII)
1I loved thee, Atthis, in the long ago,
2When the great oleanders were in flower
3In the broad herded meadows full of sun.
4And we would often at the fall of dusk
5Wander together by the silver stream,
6When the soft grass-heads were all wet with dew
7And purple-misted in the fading light.
8And joy I knew and sorrow at thy voice,
9And the superb magnificence of love,—
10The loneliness that saddens solitude,
11And the sweet speech that makes it durable,—
12The bitter longing and the keen desire,
13The sweet companionship through quiet days
14In the slow ample beauty of the world,
15And the unutterable glad release
16Within the temple of the holy night.
17O Atthis, how I loved thee long ago
18In that fair perished summer by the sea!
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Bliss Carman, Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics (Boston: L. C. Page, 1903), p. 27. D-10 6569 Fisher Library (copy 78).
First publication date:
1903
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1998.
Recent editing: 4:2002/1/26
Composition date:
17
July
1902
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