Myrtle and Myrrh/Thy Smile

by Ameen Rihani

 

THY SMILE

Outside the gates of night, above the moon,
Where breatheth none but gods, where light alone
Forever rules from his star-studded throne,
Where Melancholy never reaches noon,
And where the Pleiades their harps attune,—
There in the centre of the lightning zone,
Upon the zephyr which the storm hath sown,
Thou first wert formed with pleasure to commune.
And now in Pleasure's world, upon the face
Of bright and gay Bohemia's fairest child
The zephyr dallies with the lightning flash;
The smile divine, as well the subtle grace
Are deeply there impressed, by naught defiled—
There joy's received as well as paid in cash.