War and Love/An Interlude
AN INTERLUDE
There is a momentary pause in love
When all the birth-pangs of desire are lulled
By poppied kisses, when not yet begins
The light strong life of love that lives indeed
Through many dappled days of good Spring weather,
A pause when all the senses are bound up
Like flowers to form a garland, which her hand
Will scatter for delight upon her bed.
When all the birth-pangs of desire are lulled
By poppied kisses, when not yet begins
The light strong life of love that lives indeed
Through many dappled days of good Spring weather,
A pause when all the senses are bound up
Like flowers to form a garland, which her hand
Will scatter for delight upon her bed.
One waits,
And glides upon the crested surge of days
Like some sea-god, with tangled dripping beard
And smooth hard skin, who glimpses from the sea
An earth-girl named by the soft foam fringe,
And, utterly forgetting all his life,
Flings toward the shore, is caught up by a wave
And hurried toward her, glad with sudden love!
And glides upon the crested surge of days
Like some sea-god, with tangled dripping beard
And smooth hard skin, who glimpses from the sea
An earth-girl named by the soft foam fringe,
And, utterly forgetting all his life,
Flings toward the shore, is caught up by a wave
And hurried toward her, glad with sudden love!
Even in that pause of speed I live;
And though the great wave curl in spikes of foam
And crash me bleeding at her cool small feet
All breathless with the waters' sudden swirl,
I shall be glad of every stabbing wound
If she will hold my tired limbs to hers
And breathe wild love into my mouth and thrill
Even the blood I shed with that desire
Which throbs all through me at her lightest touch.
And though the great wave curl in spikes of foam
And crash me bleeding at her cool small feet
All breathless with the waters' sudden swirl,
I shall be glad of every stabbing wound
If she will hold my tired limbs to hers
And breathe wild love into my mouth and thrill
Even the blood I shed with that desire
Which throbs all through me at her lightest touch.