Witter Bynner Quotes

Name me no names for my disease, With uninforming breath; I tell you I am none of these, But homesick unto death —Homesick for hills that I had known, For brooks that I had crossed, ...Before I met this flesh and bone And followed and was lost… .And though they break my heart at last, Yet name no name of ills. Say only, "Here is where he passed, Seeking again those hills.

Witter Bynner’s

Upon publication of The Troll Garden, Witter Bynner sent a copy (along with some of his own poetry) to Henry James, who responded that he found it difficult to read new novels, especially those written by American women, but nevertheless would make an effort for Miss Cather.

She never moved in pieces like a mosaic She moved whole like a sculpture But it was next to impossible With her limited means even if she had started And besides They were watching

There is a dear weariness of love… Hand relaxed in hand, Shoulder at rest upon shoulder. And to me that pool of weariness is more wonderful Than crater, cataract, Maelstrom, earthquake… For it is a double pool In which lie, silent, The golden fishes of sleep. — Harold Witter Bynner, “Weariness,” Others for 1919: An Anthology of the New Verse edited by Alfred Kreymborg. (Cornell University Library September 22, 2009)

Still must I tamely Talk sense with these others? How long Before I shall be with you again, Magnificently saying nothing!

The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching as translated by Witter Bynner.

Lightning - 1881-1968 There is a solitude in seeing you, Followed by your company when you are gone. You are like heaven’s veils of lightning. I cannot see till afterward How beautiful you are. There is a blindness in seeing you, Followed by the sight of you when you are gone.