Poems (Tree)/I See Myself in Many Different Dresses

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I See Myself in Many Different Dresses

There are Songs Enough of Love, of Joy, of Grief

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4562310Poems — I See Myself in Many Different DressesIris Tree

I SEE myself in many different dresses,In many moods, and many different places;All gold amid the grey where solemn facesAre silence to my mirth—a flame that blessesFrom yellow lamp the darkness which oppresses . . .Or mid the dancers in their trivial lacesAloof, as in the ring a lion paces,Disdainful of their slander or caresses.I see myself the child of many races,Poisoners, martyrs, harlots and princesses;Within my soul a thousand weary tracesOf pain and joy and passionate excesses—Eternal beauty that our brief love chasesWith snatch of desperate hands and dying tresses.

1917