Sara Teasdale’s speaker calls out to a lover with a single repeated word: “Come.” The opening lines set the scene in a soft spring evening, where the pale moon drifts like a petal in the pearly dusk. The invitation is physical and tender—arms outstretched, lips ready to cling. But beneath that tenderness is urgency. In the second stanza, the speaker compares life to a frail moth caught in the web of passing years. The thought that they will soon be “gray stones in the grass” makes the moment feel precious and fleeting. The mood is both romantic and melancholy: desire and the awareness of mortality are pressed close together, so the speaker’s plea is not just for love, but for love now, before time takes it away.
Come — Summary
Come, when the pale moon like a petal Floats in the pearly dusk of spring, Come with arms outstretched to take me, Come with lips pursed up to cling.
Come, for life is a frail moth flying Caught in the web of the years that pass, And soon we two, so warm and eager Will be as the gray stones in the grass.