Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/281

 Where blood and olive made wild harmony With eyes and wayward hair that were too dark For peace if they were not subordinated; "If so you are, then so you make yourself A danger in a world of many dangers. If I were young, God knows if I were safe Concerning you in green, like a slim cedar, As you are now, to say my life was mine: Were you to say to me that I should end it, Longevity for me were jeopardized. Have you your green on always and all over ?" "Come here, and I will tell you about that," Said Vivian, leading Merlin with a laugh To an arbored seat where they made opposites: "If you are Merlin and I know you are, For I remember you in Camelot, You know that I am Vivian, as I am; And if I go in green, why, let me go so, And say at once why you have come to me Cloaked over like a monk, and with a beard As long as Jeremiah's. I don't like it. I'll never like a man with hair like that While I can feed a carp with little frogs. I'm rather sure to hate you if you keep it, And when I hate a man I poison him." "You've never fed a carp with little frogs," Said Merlin; "I can see it in your eyes." "I might then, if I haven't," said the lady; "For I'm a savage, and I love no man As I have seen him yet. I'm here alone, With some three hundred others, all of whom Are ready, I dare say, to die for me; I'm cruel and I'm cold, and I like snakes;