NOCTURNE
I WILL MAKE this girl a bed of ferns
Beneath the trees,
And she shall come to me naked and shy in the starlight,
And when I kneel to kiss her body
Faunish I will be aware of its human scent
Mingled with the resin odours of the shrouded wood
As salt in tears.
We will be silent in the world;
And if she think good
We will go down to the green pool
To lie with our bellies on the cool grass
And drink together.
The flying beetles and the bats
And the birds drowsy in the branches
Shall be our companions.
The sheep in the open fields
Shall see our white bodies
glimmering in the woodland dusk.
29
