Sara Teasdale, comp. (1884–1933).
The Answering Voice: One Hundred Love Lyrics by Women. 1917.

The Man

Helen Hay Whitney

THE FLAME is spent, I can no more

Hold the tall candle by your door;

Too often have I watched to see

Your lagging steps come home to me.

The Tyrian traders taught me this:

They came perfumed with ambergris,

With amethystine robes, and hair

Curled by the kisses of salt air.

They mocked me for my weary hands

Holding your light as love demands;

They sang the lure of poppied sleep,

Their lips were warm, their eyes were deep.

The flame is spent—your pale, weak face

Must seek another resting place;

Win me and hold me now who can—

The Tyrian trader was a man.