Page:Poems, Alan Seeger, 1916.djvu/151



you remember once, in Paris of glad faces,

The night we wandered off under the third moon's rays

And, leaving far behind bright streets and busy places,

Stood where the Seine flowed down between its quiet quais?

The city's voice was hushed; the placid, lustrous waters

Mirrored the walls across where orange windows burned.

Out of the starry south provoking rumors brought us

Far promise of the spring already northward turned.

And breast drew near to breast, and round its soft desire My arm uncertain stole and clung there unrepelled.

I thought that nevermore my heart would hover nigher

To the last flower of bliss that Nature's garden held.

There, in your beauty's sweet abandonment to pleasure,

The mute, half-open lips and tender, wondering eyes, I saw embodied first smile back on me the treasure

Long sought across the seas and back of summer skies.

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