Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
Love-Songs of the Open RoadKendall Banning
Was ever dawn so sweet before? the land so fair as now?
The wanderlust is luring to wherever roads may lead,
While yet the dew is on the hedge. So how can I but heed?
And where may friends be better made than under God’s green inn?
Your mouth is warm and laughing and your voice is calling low,
While yet the dew is on the hedge. So how can I but go?
The bobolink is singing in the rye;
The brook is purling, purling in the valley,
And the river’s laughing, radiant, to the sky!
The winds are whispering, whispering to the pine;
The joy of June has found me; as an aureole it’s crowned me
Because, oh best belovèd, you are mine!
(Where only lovers go),
There is a pool where only
The fairest roses grow.
So sweet beyond compare?
Among their purple shadows
My love is waiting there.
To Arcady by moonlight
The roads are open wide,
But only joy can enter
And only joy abide.
That perfect faith can know—
In Arcady by moonlight,
Where only lovers go.