On the Hill-Side

Radclyffe Hall

A Memory

You lay so still in the sunshine,
So still in that hot sweet hour—
That the timid things of the forest land
Came close; a butterfly lit on your hand,
Mistaking it for a flower.

You scarcely breathed in your slumber,
So dreamless it was, so deep—
While the warm air stirred in my veins like wine,
The air that had blown through a jasmine vine,
But you slept—and I let you sleep.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on August 25, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.

About This Poem

“On the Hill-Side” was published in Poems of the Past & Present (Chapman and Hall, 1910).

Radclyffe Hall was born Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall on August 12, 1880, in Bournemouth, England. Most known for her banned novel The Well of Loneliness (Jonathan Cape, 1928), she is also the author of several poetry books, including Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems (Chapman and Hall, 1913). She died on October 7, 1943, in London.

Poetry by Hall

Three Counties, and Other Poems

(Forgotten Books, 2018)

"The moon rose over the bay. I had a lot of feelings." by Donika Kelly

"Never May the Fruit Be Picked" by Edna St. Vincent Milay

"Tonight No Poetry Will Serve" by Adrienne Rich

Help Us Improve Poem-a-Day

Complete our Poem-a-Day reader survey and receive 20% off selected products in the Poets Shop.

August Guest Editor: Ruth Ellen Kocher

Thanks to Ruth Ellen Kocher, author of Third Voice (Tupelo Press, 2016), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a Q&A with Kocher about her curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

Your Support Makes Poem-a-Day Possible

Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. This free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on the weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily.

Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend

August 25, 2019