The moon distills a soft blue light,
The moon distills silence.
Black clouds huddle across the stars;
I walk in deserted gardens
Breaking the dry leaves under my feet …
Leaves have littered the marble seat
Where the lovers sat in silence …
Leaves have littered the empty seat …
Down there the black pool, quiveringly,
Ripples the floating moon …
Down there the tall trees, restlessly,
Shake beneath the moon …
Beloved, I walk alone …
What ghost is this that walks with me,
Always in darkness walks with me?
……………………………………………….
Here alone, unknown, in the darkness,
I watched you whirling above your shadow,
Soft in saffron, with dark hair jewelled,
And arms uplifted,
Dancing alone in the hissing spotlight …
You rise and fall on the wave of the music
Narrowing eyes at the light that dazzles,
Languidly smiling …
Beautiful, now, are your cold white shoulders …
If I were death, my hands might touch them;
If I were death, my mouth might kiss you,
Passionate dancer.
……………………………………………………………..
Red leaf, red leaf, falling to float
On the blue water among the cold clouds …
If I were a child I would call you a boat
And sail to the moon …
I would sail to the moon with the dark king’s daughter;
The beautiful dreamer with green-slippered feet;
Her long golden hair would shine on the water;
Her eyes would be blue;
And there she would sing, while the sail overhead
Swelled with the wind, and the green waves flashed,–
Her red lips would sing, till the isle of the dead
Rose darkly before us.
………………………………………………………….
This night I dreamed that you shone before me
Colder and paler than rose-flushed marble,
With dark hair fallen across your shoulders
And face half hidden.
And in that darkness I went before you
And turned my eyes from your beauty quickly:
I turned away from your too great beauty,
I fled before you.
Now I remember how in that shadow
You started to smile, your dark eyes kindled,
Your face grew light with a word unspoken;
Then, had I waited,
I should have learned … what moonlight secret?
What whisper of temples and hills of cypress?
What echo of singing and far-off cymbals,
Gleam of the goddess?…
But I, grown base in fear of denial,
Though all my blood stood still for your beauty,
I turned in silence away from your kindness;
And now I have lost you.
………………………………………………………………………………….
Beautiful body made of ivory,
Beautiful body made of ivory and roses,
Beautiful body made of gold and beaten silver,
Garlanded with ivy,
Colder than starlight you stand and await me,
Colder than starlight on the snow of mountains;
Whiter than starlight on the snow of oceans
You wait and are silent.
Beautiful dreamer of dreams,
Beautiful dreamer of cold-hearted music,
Roseate dreamer of involuted music,
Chords of tense silver,
Clearly you sound to me in the night-time;
Solemnly, like a rich wind moving,
You move in my heart’s enchanted forests,
You sigh and are restless.
Beautiful dream of the dreamer,
Rare dream profoundly and curiously unfolding,
Unfolding like a lotus in waves of cool fragrance,
Unfolding in slow measure,
You are like moonlight prodigally unfolding,
You are like the universe of stars unfolding,
Unfolding in slow chords of sound and silence,
Grave and immortal.
Beautiful body made of roses,
Beautiful body made of roses and sea-waves,
Beautiful body with eyes of cold starlight,
Slow-moving dreamer,
Beautiful woman made of love,
White body made of dreamdust and stardust,
Silently and sedately you enter me,–
Quietly you possess me.
