"The Mortal Lease" by Edith Wharton

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( February 17, 2019 [The Mortal Lease]( [Edith Wharton]( II. Because our kiss is as the moon to draw The mounting waters of that red-lit sea That circles brain with sense, and bids us be The playthings of an elemental law, Shall we forego the deeper touch of awe On love’s extremest pinnacle, where we, Winging the vistas of infinity, Gigantic on the mist our shadows saw? Shall kinship with the dim first-moving clod Not draw the folded pinion from the soul, And shall we not, by spirals vision-trod, Reach upward to some still-retreating goal, As earth, escaping from the night’s control, Drinks at the founts of morning like a god? [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( This poem is in the public domain. ["The Moral Lease" by Edith Wharton]( About This Poem “The Mortal Lease” was published in Artemis to Actæon (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909). [Edith Wharton]( Edith Wharton was born on January 24, 1862, in New York City. She is the author of Artemis to Actæon (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909) and Verses (C. E. Hammett, Jr., 1878). She died on August 11, 1937, in France. [more-at-poets]( [Edith Wharton]( Poetry by Wharton [Edith Wharton]( (Dover Publications, 2015) "Come Slowly—Eden (211)" by Emily Dickinson [read-more]( "Quentin Compson at the Natural History Museum, Harvard University" by Megan Fernandes [read-more]( "The blessed angels" by Toi Derricotte [read-more]( February Guest Editor: Clint Smith Thanks to [Clint Smith](, author of Counting Descent (Write Bloody Publishing, 2016), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a [Q&A with Smith]( about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our [guest editors for the year.]( [make a one-time donation]( [make a monthly donation]( [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( 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](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038