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Why Did I Sketch

Topics: classic

Why did I sketch an upland green,      And put the figure in      Of one on the spot with me? -     For now that one has ceased to be seen      The picture waxes akin      To a wordless irony.     If you go drawing on down or cliff      Let no soft curves intrude      Of a woman's silhouette,     But show the escarpments stark and stiff      As in utter solitude;      So shall you half forget.     Let me sooner pass from sight of the sky      Than again on a thoughtless day      Limn, laugh, and sing, and rhyme     With a woman sitting near, whom I      Paint in for love, and who may      Be called hence in my time!     From an old note.

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"Why did I sketch an upland green,..."

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