The Old Road to Paradise/An Afternoon

by Margaret Widdemer

For works with similar titles, see Afternoon.

AN AFTERNOON

This was one of the dreary whiles
When a woman sits and smiles
Wishing all the talk was over,
Inward thought a weary rover . . .
But my lips smiled vividly—
Ah, the women could not see
How my hand in yours lay warm
Through wide miles of sun and storm
(Far away, dear, did you know
That I smiled to feel it so?)

And my eyes burned bright, elate,
Into theirs of drearier fate,
Seeing your eyes' lovingness
Into mine smile deep and bless
(Far away, love, did you see
On your eyes mine lovingly?)

While between the words they made,
Weary words, I think, dull-weighed,
We were talking each to each—
Why, too short for all our speech
Was the lingering afternoon,
Throbbing fast and vanished soon
(Far away, love, did you hear
All I whispered in your ear?)

And they said—I heard them say—
"What it is to be young and gay!
How she pleasured in the day!"