Page:Modern Russian Poetry.djvu/169

Rh

Still was the evening of the ball, The summer ball, with dancers wending Where ancient linden shadows fall Upon the river steeply bending;

Where in the trees the breezes breathe And willows droop like drowsy dreamers; Where it seemed beautiful to wreathe The lanterns and the colored streamers.

A languorous waltz of slow retreatings, A waltz that singing hardly sounded; And many faces, many meetings, Soft clouds like women's shoulders rounded.

The river looked a sculptured stream, Serenely the whole heaven holding,— A fluent and enchanted dream Of joyous miracles unfolding.

A crimson mantle, golden-bright, Upon the clouds the sun was flinging; The dream-swept waltz was drowned in light, And calling through the dusk and singing.

A languorous waltz beside the river, And many meetings, many faces, And near cheeks' warmth, and lovely quiver Where eyelash with curved eyelash laces.