When I Am Not With You

Sara Teasdale

When I am not with you,

I am alone,

For there is no one else

And there is nothing

That comforts me but you.

When you are gone

Suddenly I am sick,

Blackness is around me,

There is nothing left.

I have tried many things,

Music and cities,

Stars in their constellations,

And the sea—

But there is nothing

That comforts me but you.

And my poor pride bows down

Like grass in a rain-storm,

Drenched with my longing.

The night is unbearable,

Oh let me go to you,

For there is no one,

There is nothing

To comfort me but you.


The Yale Review is committed to publishing pieces from its archive as they originally appeared, without alterations to spelling, content, or style. Occasionally, errors creep in due to the digitization process; we work to correct these errors as we find them. You can email [email protected] with any you find.

Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) was an American poet. She was the first person to win the Poetry Society of America Prize, later renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, for her 1917 poetry collection Love Songs.
Originally published:
January 1, 1925

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