A reading of "Spring Night" by Sara Teasdale — a poem about standing in a world so beautiful it ought to be enough, and discovering, almost painfully, that beauty cannot quiet the longing to be loved.

Recorded live. I read the romantic canon out loud — the works I felt I should read before I die — and you're welcome to come sit for the next one. Subscribe and ring the bell to catch the next live reading.

THE POEM

The park is filled with night and fog,
The veils are drawn about the world,
The drowsy lights along the paths
Are dim and pearled.

Gold and gleaming the empty streets,
Gold and gleaming the misty lake,
The mirrored lights like sunken swords,
Glimmer and shake.

Oh, is it not enough to be
Here with this beauty over me?
My throat should ache with praise, and I
Should kneel in joy beneath the sky.
Oh, beauty, are you not enough?

Why am I crying after love
With youth, a singing voice and eyes
To take earth's wonder with surprise?
Why have I put off my pride,
Why am I unsatisfied,
I for whom the pensive night
Binds her cloudy hair with light,
I for whom all beauty burns
Like incense in a million urns?
Oh, beauty, are you not enough?
Why am I crying after love?

LISTEN

Full episodes, wherever you get podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Lk6a6N...

The reading room — letters, and the before-I-die list: ravynreads.substack.com

RavynReads is poetry read aloud, plus Shelf Lives: hour-long conversations about the books that changed people's lives.

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