WHEN APRIL COMES.

When April

with her violets gay

and daffodils that gaily sway

and dance in wind

comes in

Her laughter like a tinkling bell

fills every sunny little dell

with merry sound

and play.

She flits around

and twirls on toes,

her laughter ringing high,

and shows

this aged world

that Spring from her cocoon's

unfurled.

She twirls and spins

and makes a breeze

that causes even ancient trees

to ripple making happy sound

of age approving youth.

No frown does spoil the balmy air--

no music, save the glad

refrain

of April.

Skies, aeons old, look down and think

perhaps of Aprils past--

Their tears in gentle rain

Fall fast.

Madge Hall Thomas

May 4, 1939

(Now I'm just going back and scooping up the ones I didn't type in before and I'm going to try to type them all in in as fell a swoop as I can.)

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

I

How can I write of love

Who know too well the pain it brings

To one who loves alone?

How can one write of Heaven

When all one knows on Earth

Is Hell?

II

How can the poets sing of love

And joy and happiness

Love brings,

When every word I hear my lover say

Pricks at my heart

And stings?

May 3, 1939

Coldness

Drip, drip--

Drip, drip--

The slowly melting icicles

freeze the heart that once

was warm and loving.

Drip, drip--

Drip, drip--

Frozen hearts don't melt so

easily as icicles that are in the sun.

Drip, drip--

Drip, drip--

A frozen heart aches and aches

and is so cold that all who come near it

are frozen too.

Drip, drip--

Drip, drip--

Still hearts are far better than

frozen ones which, though stiff,

still hurt and cry.

May 6, 1939

To A Baseball Hero (Highschool)

We stand with breathless, watchful gaze

Upon the field where our hero plays.

He takes his bat up in his hand

Then casts an eye toward the crowded stand.

The pitcher heaves a mighty hurl,

Our hero turns--he sees his girl.

He winks at her, forgets to swing--

How sweetly do the birdies sing!

May 15, 1939

(Moments of cheer after the bad breakup, or whatever trouble it was? Or was she just basically depressive from having had the rheumatic fever and the ridiculously bad prognostication that she wouldn't live long? I don't know how you'd feel if they told you you couldn't live a normal life or a very long one. Or how I'd feel, either.)

YOU'RE GONE

You're gone--

And, yet, the sun still shines--

The hours pass the same,

though sometimes very slowly.

My heart beats on interminably,

But you are gone!

May 18, 1939

(That one, "You're Gone" just above is typed in again and dated April, 1939 also. The April 1939 version is crossed out in pencil.)

"When Love Is Gone--"

When love is gone

what is left?

Naught save endless nights and days--

Naught save endless days and nights

Weaving patterns black and white

In the light and in the night.

Black and white.

Black and white.

Thudding heartbeats

Bump and pound

All the time, day and night,

Making endless tortuous sound

Through the night and when it's light.

When it's noon I wish it night

In the night I wish it light.

What a pity! what a plight! Black and white, Dark and light.

When Love is gone

what is there left?

Naught but pain,

Naught but rain.

Rain that falls in slow, big drops,

Pain that hurts and never stops,

Rain that falls unceasingly,

Pain that throbs continually.

What is left

when Love is gone?

Pain and sadness, tears and madness,

Lonesomeness and tall bleak shadows,

Endless weaving--black and white,

Endless patterns--

Day and night.

May 20, 1939

(I mean it must have been just awful for her. Poor thing.)

RESOLVED

Today I made a resolution

that breaks my heart in two.

I have resolved that never, never will I let you know

I love you

But more than that--and harder, too,

Is this: I will not covet you.

May, 1939

AFTER LOVE

It's over.

Do not grieve

that it is ended.

Love, after

light comes dark--

Light that was splendid!

Forget, love,

And pray I, too,

will do the same.

Forget--

Remember not--

Even my name.

June 9, 1939

If

If I had it over again

Would I let you say you loved me?

If I had it over again

With the yellow moon above me?

If I had it over again

Would I have known your kiss?

Ah, if I had it over again

I'd want it just like this.

For the words "I love you"

Are sweet to hear--

And that yellow balloon

Was for us, my dear.

For if your kiss

I had not had

My heart would ever

Remain as sad

As a roses that dies

Ere the bud is full--

As a storm that leaves

A lonely lull.

So if I had it over again

I'd have it just the same.

I would not change a single thing

For money, or crown, or fame.

For you are you

Whether false or true

And of all that life offers

I'd rather have you.

June '39

(Just sad.)

"Clear Winter Night---"

Clear winter night

with stars,

You need no moon

to light the narrow path that I must go

to find my true love's side

upon the hill--

beneath the snow.

January, 1940

(I wonder what that was about. And/or who it was for. Mama said Madge had a pen pal during the war. I think I have at least one of those letters she received from him.)