Erotica/Sweet Contradiction

by Arthur Clark Kennedy

Sweet Contradiction

Sweet contradiction is the soulOf every woman. When I burnedWith love, poured passionate words, heart wholeShe laughed, but when aside I turnedTo note another's wistful lookWhence spake a world unutterable,At once she stood between us, tookMy hand in hers, her bosom rose and fell,Her eyes she kept downcast a little space,And then her lips were lifted to my face.