THE RETURN
dreams like memory through the mind.
Now love returns once more, our lost and antique love,
dear tiger lily! above
the sad detritus of death:
fling we then out of doors and into hearts,
where the year freshly starts,
and join the song-sparrow
in Hymen's favorite song:
for treason late and long,
in .the sly shibboleth
of treason to death; and love, and another season!
The oak leaves rustle in the thicket,
loosen themselves, detach, and fall,
pale brown, pale purple, harsh still;
the hawk hangs over his beloved hill,
as love hangs over the destined heart;
and once more joyfully we begin
the ancient dance of meet and part,
wherein
each is in turn the .hawk and each the heart.
We touch and meet, we touch and greet,
kiss gravely, tread apart,
next glance, and eye askance,
curtsey in courtship's bashful dance,
retreat, and then advance.
o
unknown love,
unknown and treacherous as that sky above
and as my own heart is,
what is the meaning of your kiss?
Each lover asks and .answers this
in blinded bliss.
Glad, glad, the sound
of two hearts beating, together bound,
o
but tumultuous the rest
of your face, love, that rests upon my breast,
tumultuous the rest
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