I TOOK the love you threw away
When the moon was full;
When in the river the full moon lay
And the river-reeds were hushed in their play
And gave their souls to the moon,
And whispered and cried, "Ah, well-away!
Today must turn into yesterday
And the moon must wither and fade away,
The beautiful full moon!"
I took the love that you had scorned.
Where it lay in that cold reed-bed.
Took it when the morning dawned,
Making the river red.
"Behold, in spite of her bitter scorn,
In spite of the blood spilt by the dawn,
That love is mine," I said.
And now when the moon is old
And the sun, all burning gold.
Scorches the city street;
Now when the river is dried
And the reeds have drooped and died,
Your love is a fountain sweet;
A fountain and a cup!
And the wretchedest and the worst
Bless God as they drink it up,
For it quenches their deepest thirst.
And the air of the hottest day
Grows cool and beautiful,
Because of the love you threw away
When the moon was full.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1963, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 60 years or less. This work may 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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