Both watched the uncertain swallows sudden farewell winging; The one so pale, jet-haired, the other with a face Of roses, and their loosened gowns of light old lace About their sweetness, vague as summer clouds were clinging. And both, with a languor of the wan asphodel, While in the heavens lifted the moon's limp flower, Tasted with thirsty lips the night's impassioned hour, And the sad joy of faithful hearts that love too well. Thus, clasped and supple, the pallid sky of beauty draining, Mysterious-loving pair, all other loves disdaining, Thus, on the balcony, hand hot in hand, they dreamed. Behind them, deep in the rich shadows of the room, Emphatic as the throne of a great drama, gleamed The tumbled, odorous Bed, wide-opening in the gloom. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAST BUCCANEER by CHARLES KINGSLEY NO SECOND TROY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS RECOLLECTION by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH THE SISTER'S TRAGEDY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A WORD TO THE WEST END by THOMAS ASHE THE METHOD OF THE MAD MULLAH by BERTON BRALEY AURORA LEIGH: BOOK 9 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |