Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.
Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.
Originally published in Rivers to the Sea (1915) by Sara Teasdale. Public domain.
Analysis
Also from Rivers to the Sea (1915), “The Look” shows Teasdale’s deft economy — folk-ballad clarity with a modern psychological twist.
Two quatrains compare kisses with a gaze that proves more indelible than touch. The playful pastoral names (Strephon, Robin, Colin) evoke tradition, but the final line reveals a distinctly modern insight: desire can be more enduring in the mind’s eye than in the body.
Teasdale’s meter and rhyme keep the tone light even as the implication lingers.