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About this Poem 

“From the Telephone” was published in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse in August 1922.

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From the Telephone

Out of the dark cup
Your voice broke like a flower.
It trembled, swaying on its taut stem.
The caress in its touch
Made my eyes close.

This poem is in the public domain.

This poem is in the public domain.

Florence Ripley Mastin

Florence Ripley Mastin was born in Wayne, Pennsylvania, in 1886. She published several books of poetry, including Green Leaves (James T. White & Co., 1918) and Cables of Cobweb (H. Harrison, 1935). She died in 1968. 

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by this poet

poem
Moth Moon
Florence Ripley Mastin
1918

Moth Moon, a-flutter in the lilac tree,
With pollen of the white stars on thy wings,
Oh! would I shared thy flight, thy fantasy,
The aimless beauty of thy brightenings!
A worker, wed to Purpose and Things,
Earth-worn I turn from Day’s sufficiency.
One lethéd hour that duty never brings

poem
Night Fell
Florence Ripley Mastin
1918

Night fell one year ago, like this.
He had been writing steadily.
Among these dusky walls of books,
How bright he looked, intense as flame!
Suddenly he paused,
The firelight in his hair,
And said, “The time has come to go.”
I took his hand;
We watched the logs burn out;

poem
Discovery
Florence Ripley Mastin
1918

The gray path glided before me
Through cool, green shadows;
Little leaves hung in the soft air
Like drowsy moths;
A group of dark trees, gravely conferring,
Made me conscious of the gaucherie of sound;
Farther on, a slim lilac
Drew me down to her on the warm grass.
“How sweet

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