Barter
Sara Teasdale
Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Soaring fire that sways and sings, And children's faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to sell, Music like a curve of gold, Scent of pine trees in the rain, Eyes that love you, arms that hold, And for your spirit's still delight, Holy thoughts that star the night. Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have been, or could be.
Of note
"Barter" opens the first section of Love Songs (1917). The book won a 1918 prize paid for by the Poetry Society of America, which the Pulitzer organization now lists as the first Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Poetry Tale: The Tramp Poet and the Businessman
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TEXT PROVENANCE · First published June 1917 in Poetry · Text from a 1918 reprinting of Love Songs (1917), via Project Gutenberg.
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