Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BUT WELL I KNOW WHEN APRIL COMES, by RUTH LE PRADE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BUT WELL I KNOW WHEN APRIL COMES, by                    
First Line: I would be a nun
Last Line: To find my lover there!
Subject(s): April; Nuns


I would be a nun
And wear a black dress,
Kneel at an altar
And all my sins confess;

I would walk sedately
All of my days,
Surely peace would come to her
Who kneels and prays;

I would pray at evening,
I would pray at dawn,
I would not remember
Happiness that's gone;

I would pray to all the Saints,
Blessed Mary too,
In my cloistered holiness
I'd never think of you;

I would not remember
All your bonny ways --
Surely peace would come to her
Who kneels and prays;

Through the Autumn afternoons
In my lonely cell,
I would read from holy book,
All my beads I'd tell;

Though the Winter nights were long
I'd utter no complaints,
I would meditate and pray
Thinking of the Saints;

I would be a nun
And wear a black dress,
Kneel at an altar
And all my sins confess --

If only, only, April
Would never come again
To thrill me with its ecstasy
And break me with its pain!

But well I know when April comes
And all the birds awake,
And all the buds come laughing out
Every vow I'd break.

I would let my black dress
Fall upon the floor,
I would loose my gold hair,
Open wide the door.

I would kneel no longer,
No more beads I'd tell,
(Ah! well I know that sins like these
Must damn the soul to hell!)

I would choose a far road
Flung across the dawn,
All my heart in flower
With the happiness that's gone.

I would sing a gypsy song
Out beneath the moon,
I would sing a gypsy song
To a gypsy tune.

I would dance with truant feet,
No more beads I'd tell,
(Ah! well I know that sins like these
Must damn the soul to hell!)

I would choose a far road,
Leading anywhere --
And pray to God and all the Saints
To find my Lover there!





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