“Why Did I Sketch”

Lyrics

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.