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Sara Teasdale
PLACES
I
Twilight
(Tucson)
Aloof as aged kings,
Wearing like them the purple,
The mountains ring the mesa
Crowned with a dusky light;
Many a time I watched
That coming-on of darkness
Till the stars burned through the heavens
Intolerably bright.
It was not long I live there,
But I became a woman
Under those vehement stars,
For it was there I heard
For the first time my spirit
Forging an iron rule for me,
As though with slow cold hammers
Beating out word by word;
"Take love when love is given,
But never think to find it
A sure escape from sorrow
Or a complete repose;
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