ANTINOUS
As forth he came into the frail starlight
Which through huge bulks of tamarisk and palm
But faintly glossed the unmoving ebon calm
Of waters nearest shore, the lotus white
Seemed girlish hands outflung in soft affright
To clutch and hold him back. But well he knew
His heart and ever steered the slight canoe
On through the glamourous, moon-haunted night.
On toward the cataracts' unceasing roar
Past ruined palaces and gardens dim
He flashed by startled watchers on the shore
Like an embodied moon-ray white and slim—
A flash, a plunge, a moan—and nothing more
'Twixt sky and foam-streaked water seen of him.
Which through huge bulks of tamarisk and palm
But faintly glossed the unmoving ebon calm
Of waters nearest shore, the lotus white
Seemed girlish hands outflung in soft affright
To clutch and hold him back. But well he knew
His heart and ever steered the slight canoe
On through the glamourous, moon-haunted night.
On toward the cataracts' unceasing roar
Past ruined palaces and gardens dim
He flashed by startled watchers on the shore
Like an embodied moon-ray white and slim—
A flash, a plunge, a moan—and nothing more
'Twixt sky and foam-streaked water seen of him.
RAIN IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN
From shaken boughs of myrtle and of box
Drop topaz, jacinth, peridot enough
To pay an elf-king's ransom. Hollyhocks
Each in deep-flouncing silks with pleated ruff
Bend in the courtly fashion of old beaux
And toss their diamonds of blinding sheen
In the gold-lily's lap. The damask rose
Droops jewel-fettered like a captive queen.
Faint promise of the sun seems everywhere,
Delicate rainbows flash—and perched aloft
The quivering phlox that butterfly again
To spread his drenched and tattered wings would dare—
When, eerie-wild and mischievous and soft,
The rush and teasing laughter of the rain.
Drop topaz, jacinth, peridot enough
To pay an elf-king's ransom. Hollyhocks
Each in deep-flouncing silks with pleated ruff
Bend in the courtly fashion of old beaux
And toss their diamonds of blinding sheen
In the gold-lily's lap. The damask rose
Droops jewel-fettered like a captive queen.
Faint promise of the sun seems everywhere,
Delicate rainbows flash—and perched aloft
The quivering phlox that butterfly again
To spread his drenched and tattered wings would dare—
When, eerie-wild and mischievous and soft,
The rush and teasing laughter of the rain.
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