She hugs me tightly to herself
I feel all resolve ebb away from me
What with being encumbered from all sides with cold
And she offering the only surety of warmth
I sink deeper and deeper into
Her warm fold indefinitely.

My thoughts are crabbed and sallow,
My tears like vinegar,
Or the bitter blinking yellow
Of an acetic star.

Tonight the caustic wind, love,
Gossips late and soon,
And I wear the wry-faced pucker of
The sour lemon moon.

While like an early summer plum,
Puny, green, and ****,
Droops upon its wizened stem
My lean, unripened heart.

I shall bury my weary Love
Beneath a tree,
In the forest tall and black
Where none can see.

I shall put no flowers at his head,
Nor stone at his feet,
For the mouth I loved so much
Was bittersweet.

I shall go no more to his grave,
For the woods are cold.
I shall gather as much of joy
As my hands can hold.

I shall stay all day in the sun
Where the wide winds blow,
But oh, I shall weep at night
When none will know.

It will not hurt me when I am old,
   A running tide where moonlight burned
    Will not sting me like silver snakes;
The years will make me sad and cold,
    It is the happy heart that breaks.

The heart asks more than life can give,
   When that is learned, then all is learned;
    The waves break fold on jewelled fold,
But beauty itself is fugitive,
    It will not hurt me when I am old.

I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.
I remembered a darkened doorway
Where we stood while the storm swept by,
Thunder gripping the earth
And lightning scrawled on the sky.
The passing motor busses swayed,
For the street was a river of rain,
Lashed into little golden waves
In the lamp light’s stain.
With the wild spring rain and thunder
My heart was wild and gay;
Your eyes said more to me that night
Than your lips would ever say. . . .
I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.

I am not sorry for my soul
That it must go unsatisfied,
For it can live a thousand times,
Eternity is deep and wide.

I am not sorry for my soul,
But oh, my body that must go
Back to a little drift of dust
Without the joy it longed to know.

sweet songs fill the
still and quiet summer night
leads my thoughts along the
narrow paths of lush green life
as moonlight filtered by the leaves above
sends shafts of beautiful silvery magic
like a visual kiss
onto the narrow ways ground
where it leaves rippling pools
that passing lighthearted
souls drink from with graceful hearts
there is no disquiet here
only the mysteries of loving kindness
in which we swim forever blissful
at the end of the narrow way
a castle made of dreams
where stout men stand silent guard
protecting innocence
and providing comfort to the
broken hearted
such are the dreams that fill
my soul while I sleep blissfully in
my sweet lover's arms
my heart in her tender hands