Erotica/Regeneration

by Arthur Clark Kennedy

Regeneration

Lo! Love leaned o'er thy cradle at thy birth,And laid his lips on thine a moment's space,Breathing faint laughter and desire of mirthInto thy soul, and something not of earthNow mocks me from thy face.

Fain would I raise an answer in those eyesMy hungry eyes look into, but there lurksLow laughter in their depths, like radiant skiesThat from their azure battlements despiseEarth's earnest toilsome works.

They float above the knowledge of things gross,Serenely still and smiling through the void,And yet methinks theirs is an unknown loss,Not theirs contrasted peace, nor tempests' tossFollowed by calms enjoyed.

So will I pray that Love's lips set their sealOnce more on thine, that thou be born againOf this earth earthy; let Love's lips revealSecrets of laughter turned to tears and dealOut Love's delicious pain.