When I Heard at the Close of the Day.
27 lines✦
HEN I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the
capitol,
still it was not a happy night for me that follow’d;
And else, when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d, still I was not happy;
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refresh’d, singing,
inhaling
the
ripe breath of autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the morning light,
When I wander’d alone over the beach, and undressing, bathed, laughing with the cool
waters,
and
saw the sun rise,
And when I thought how my dear friend, my lover, was on his way coming, O then I was
happy;
O then each breath tasted sweeter—and all that day my food nourish’d me more—and the
beautiful
day pass’d well,
And the next came with equal joy—and with the next, at evening, came my friend;
And that night, while all was still, I heard the waters roll slowly continually up the
shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands, as directed to me, whispering, to
congratulate
me,
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night,
In the stillness, in the autumn moonbeams, his face was inclined toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast—and that night I was happy.
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