Page:Poems by Isaac Rosenberg (1922).djvu/138

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POEMS BY ISAAC ROSENBERG

Marvelled at the large cheer in a naked glistening man;
Yet soon fell in with that contented mood,
That when our hut's light broke on his new mind
lie could not credit it—too soon it seemed:
The stranger man's talk was witchery.
I pray his baking be as magical;
The cakes should be nigh burnt.

[She calls the Nubian. He answers from within.]

Nubian

They are laid by to cool, housewife.

Lilith

Bring me the sherbet from the ledge and the fast-dried figs.

[The Nubian brings sherbet, figs, and a bowl of ice, and lays them down.]

[She looks curiously at him. He is an immense man with squat, mule-skinned features: his jet-black curled beard, crisp hair, glistening nude limbs, appear to her like some heathen idol of ancient stories.]

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