Page:Last Poems.djvu/50



I upon the Rice-boat That, reef protected, lay At anchor, where the palm-trees Infringe upon the bay. The windless air was heavy With cinnamon and rose, The midnight calm seemed waiting, Too fateful for repose.

One joined me on the Rice-boat With wild and waving hair, Whose vivid words and laughter Awoke the silent air. Oh, beauty, bare and shining, Fresh washen in the bay, One well may love by moonlight What one would not love by day!

Above among the cordage The night wind hardly stirred, The lapping of the ripples Was all the sound we heard. 38