Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
Poems of Sentiment: III. MemoryThere is such power
Arlo Bates (18501918)From “Sonnets in Shadow”
T
To bring the dear past back; a flower’s tint,
A snatch of some old song, the fleeting glint
Of sunbeams on the wave—each vivid brings
Of wind-harp sad a breeze evokes the hint
Of antique tunes. A glove which keeps imprint
Of a loved hand the heart with torture wrings
A face seen in the crowd with curve of cheek
Or sweep of eyelash our woe’s core can reach.
To strive with fate: the lesson all things teach,
As of the past in myriad ways they speak.