THE flower that lives in the light of the moon Will, when morning comes, enfold betimes in its closing petals The air-dancers of night who in the moonlight Have crept into its heart to drink of its nectar. Drowned in the joy they have sought, suffocated with sweetness. I, too, a dancer of night, have at last found my nectar Unbought have I given, and taken—of nectar, In the light of the moon. Now would I, too, go; Lest the days that come after—and the nights— Dim the radiance which to-night's moon has given, Take from me that which fills my heart, Which glorifies my life, which makes holy That which the world counts shame. So to the holy moon, the protector of women, I clap my hands and pray That in his beams, which to-night make of the silvered earth A perfect moon-flower, I may be enfolded, may be drawn to his heart. There to sleep forever, drowned in the nectar I have drunk. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN ETERNITY by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH CONTRA MORTEM: THE BEING AS MOMENT by HAYDEN CARRUTH CONTRA MORTEM: THE WATER by HAYDEN CARRUTH SONG: SO OFTEN, SO LONG I HAVE THOUGHT by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE PRODIGAL SON by DAVID IGNATOW EVENTIDE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON LOVE'S MIRACLE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON |