Richard Watson Gilder



Richard Watson Gilder (February 8, 1844 – November 19, 1909) was an American poet and editor.

The New Day (1875)
The New Day: A Poem in Songs and Sonnets (New York: The Century Co., 1875)
 * I love her doubting and anguish; I love the love she withholds; I love my love that loveth her And anew her being moulds.
 * Part III. XII: "Song (I Love Her Gentle Forehead)", line 9; p. 55.


 * The Smile of her I love is like the dawn Whose touch makes Memnon sing: O, see where wide the golden sunlight flows— The barren desert blossoms as the rose!
 * Part III. XXIV: "The Smile of Her I Love", line 1; p. 69.


 * Not from the whole wide world I chose thee— Sweetheart, light of the land and the sea! The wide, wide world could not inclose thee, For thou art the whole wide world to me.
 * Part IV. IV: "Song (Not from the Whole Wide World)", line 1; p. 86.


 * Heaven from the hopeless doubter The true believer makes: Against the darkness outer The light God's likeness takes.
 * Part IV. XVII: "He Knows Not the Path of Duty", line 9; p. 100.


 * Through love to light! Oh wonderful the way That leads from darkness to the perfect day!
 * "After-Song", line 1; p. 103.

Lyrics and Other Poems (1885)
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885
 * From all the misty morning air, there comes a summer sound,— A murmur as of waters from skies, and trees and ground. The birds they sing upon the wing, the pigeons bill and coo.
 * "A Midsummer Song", stanza 2; p. 11.


 * I am a woman—therefore I may not Call to him, cry to him, Fly to him, Bid him delay not.
 * "A Woman's Thought", line 1; p. 16.


 * O white and midnight sky, O starry bath, Wash me in thy pure, heavenly crystal flood: Cleanse me, ye stars, from earthly soil and scath— Let not one taint remain in spirit or blood!
 * "The Celestial Passion", line 1; p. 111.