And I said to my beloved: "I would that thou shouldst love me well tonight: for never again shall there be a night like this, with the meeting of thee and me by this pool with flowers blown but not overblown." But she demurred, and was perverse and loved me not as I would that she should love me. And after several nights we stood again by the lotus pool, when the moon was hollow as an aging breast, and the petals of the flowers had fallen apart on the water. And now my beloved was fain to love me well, and all was well between us. But in my heart I mourned for that other night, when the moon was round as the great ivory breast of a Titaness, and the flowers were full-blown and pale upon the water. * * * * * DREAMS of YITH DUANE W. RIMEL VI Amid dim hills that poison mosses blast, Far from the lands and seas of our clean earth, Dread nightmare shadows dance--obscenely cast By twisted talons of archaean birth On rows of slimy pillars stretching past A daemon-fane that echoes with mad mirth. And in that realm sane eyes may never see-- For black light streams from skies of ebony. VII On those queer mountains which hold back the horde That lie in waiting in their mouldy graves, Who groan and mumble to a hidden lord Still waiting for the time-worn key that saves; There dwells a watcher who can ill afford To let invaders by those hoary caves. But some day then may dreamers find the way That leads down elfin-painted paths of gray. VIII And past those unclean spires that ever lean Above the windings of unpeopled streets; And far beyond the walls and silver screen That veils the secrets of those dim retreats, A scarlet pathway leads that some have seen In wildest visions that no mortal greets. And down that dimming path in fearful flight Queer beings squirm and hasten in the night. IX High in the ebon skies on scaly wings Dread batlike beasts soar past those towers gray To peer in greedy longing at the things Which sprawl in every twisted passageway. And when their gruesome flight a shadow brings The dwellers lift dim eyes above the clay. But lidded bulbs close heavily once more; They wait-for Sotho to unlatch the door! X Now, through the veil of troubled visions deep Is draped to blind me to the secret ways Leading through blackness to the realm of sleep That haunts me all my jumbled nights and days, I feel the dim path that will let me keep That rendezvous in Yith where Sotho plays. At last I see a glowing turret shine, And I am coming, for the key is mine!