"Before she came she wrote me, told me where To meet her first. 'At two o'clock,' she wrote, 'Be on the landing back of the piano' Of a hotel she named. An ominous thought Passed through my brain, as through a room a bat Flits in and out. I read the letter over: How could this letter pass the censor? Escape The censor's eye? But eagerness of passion, And longing, love, submerged such thoughts as these. I walked the streets and waited, loitered through The Garden of the Tuilleries, watched the clocks, The lagging minutes, counted with their strokes. And then at last the longed for hour arrived. I reached the landing--what a meeting place! With pillars, curtains hiding us, a nook No one could see us in, unless he spied. And she was here, was standing by the corner Of the piano, very pale and worn, Looked down, not at me, pathos over her Like autumn light. I took her in my arms, She could not speak, it seemed. I could not speak. Dumb sobs filled heart and throat of us. And then I held her from me, looked at her, re-clasped Her head against my breast, with choking breath That was half whisper, half a cry, I said, 'I love you, love you, now at last we're here Together, oh, my love!' She put her lips Against my throat and kissed it: 'Oh, my love, You really love me, now I know and see, My soul, my dear one,' Elenor breathed up The words against my throat." "We took a suite: Soft rugs upon the floor, a bed built up, And canopied with satin, on the wall Some battle pictures, one of Bonaparte, A bottle of crystal water on a stand And roses in a bowl--the room was sweet With odors, and so comfortable. Here we stood. 'It's Paris, dear,' she said, 'we are together; You're serving in the war, how glorious! We love each other, life is good--so good!' That afternoon we saw the city a little, So many things occurred to prophesy, Interpret." "And that night we saw the moon, One star above the Arc de Triomphe, over The chariot of bronze and leaping horses. Dined merrily and slept and woke together Beneath that satin canopy." "In brief, The days went by with laughter and with love. We watched the Seine from bridges, in a spell There at Versailles in the Temple of Love Sat in the fading day."