Page:Impressions- A Book of Verse.djvu/19

 A SUMMER EVENING IN THE CITY

N the soft pulsing darkness here We silent sit, my heart beats loud With joyous sense that you are near Yet dares not speak the thoughts that crowd And fill my soul, until I seem No more myself; but, through the night Like the pale shadow of a dream To float and quiver as the light Faint quivers on the wall.

The dim light from street lamps below That slanting strikes above my head, The sound of footsteps to and fro This summer night, unreal and dread All common things strike on my heart, Like voices weird from bygone years. In some fantastic way, a part Of my past life this night appears, And you the soul of it.

Your shadowy form across the room Seems stretching shadowy arms to me; Our souls embrace in the soft gloom, Not two but one they seem to be, Held breathless by this night's strange power Which we may never feel again, Farewell and greeting in one hour We say to keenest joy and pain Which yet is but a dream.