YOU sang me a song:
’T was the close of the year—
Sing again!
I cannot remember the name
Or the words:
’T is the same
We listen to hear
When the windows are open in spring,
And the air’s full of birds;
One calls from the branch some sweet thing,...
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’t Is a lesson you should heed,
Try, try, try again;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try, try again.Once or twice though you should fail,
Try again;
If you would at last prevail,
Try again.
If we strive, ’t is no disgrace
Though we may not win the race;
What should you do in that case... -
Say over again, and yet once over again,
That thou dost love me. Though the word repeated
Should seem a “cuckoo-song,” as thou dost treat it,
Remember never to the hill or plain,
Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain,
Comes the fresh spring in all her green completed.
Beloved, I, amid the darkness greeted
By a doubtful spirit-voice,... -
Soul, Wilt thou toss again?
By just such a hazard
Hundreds have lost indeed —
But tens have won an all —
Angel's breathless ballot
Lingers to record thee —
Imps in eager Caucus
Raffle for my Soul! -
That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.
Believing what we don't believe
Does not exhilarate.
That if it be, it be at best
An ablative estate —
This instigates an appetite
Precisely opposite.