Amidst the buzz of bawdy tales And the laughter of drinking men, I sat and laughed and shouted also. Yet was I not content. My seared and restless eyes, turning here and there,-- Like my tired soul,-- Seeking new joys and finding them not,-- How oft swept you unseeing. Until, suddenly,-- And now I know not how I could have missed it,-- My eyes saw into yours, And plumbed the deep wells of newly born desire. Ah, dear my heart, what things your eyes did speak! Not God's own music of creation's dawn, Revealed to mystic in a holy trance, Could pleasure me more sweetly. So dear were your lips-- Your lips so kind and regal red. My memory of your lips I cherish As a great possession ... Ah, flying joy, Caught on the wings of Time ... Tender oasis, Ingemmed in a wilderness of grey! Kisses, kisses,-- Kisses upon your red lips in the black night ... When, alone in the long, quiet street, By the door of the tavern, Shielded from sight of those within, The soft rain falling on our heads like a mother's blessing,-- We bartered the clinging kisses of new desire. And, as I held you to me, The whole universe Became informed of God, And lay within my arms. JEALOUSY You are possessed by another. How I hate him! Hear the rational people say: "Jealousy is a primitive thing. A thing of the emotions; not of reason." Fools! You do not know scarlet desire, full-flooded! Ah, my dearest, Graal of my heart's longing, Your stolen kiss is fresh upon my neck. My lips are full of my secret kiss upon your neck. You are with another, whom I hate; whom I like well for himself, but hate because he possesses you ... Your possessor is old and ugly; He can not love you as I can. I can pour out for you the scented treasures of my young love. Dear night of hope, when you gave me the whispered promise to come to me ... Stealthy was I and cunning. Friendly and attentive was I to your old lover (if lover he may be called, who is almost incapable of love). And, all the time, I was scheming for you. When the old man was away for an instant-- Oh, golden moment,-- I poured my whispered passion into your ears. When he looked away, or, for a moment, was distracted, with swift undertones I declared myself to you. How dear was your welcoming glance and your quickly toned assent! You had a face so proud. So quiet and poised among the throng. Yet, for once, you gave me your eyes and, in so doing, gave me your priceless body and warm, comradely soul. Ah, flash of answering love that transformed your face! As a jewel of my memory's treasure-casket may it be preserved.