Aubade

Ah, sun, sweet sun who loves the world
With hands and lips of fiercest fire,
Thou knowest all the laws of love;
Do not rise now, and mar my desire:
That she sleep a little longer in my bed,
Before day hastens her away, and dead

Are my memories of her compared to flesh.
Sweet sun, do not rise! Let night yet linger!
The darkness loves the world too.
Softer that love is, but no less sweet; a finger
Of moonlight may linger as long as sunbeam.
Do not yet rise, sweet sunrise, and end the dream!

The world is soft with the love of dawn,
The love of a first lover awed with her prize,
Who stays awake while the other sleeps,
And counts all the treasures of her form and eyes:
The soft skin, the rounded swell of breast,
The full lips, flare of hips, and all the rest.

Sun, thou knowest that an hour is precious;
The hour of dawn is fleeting faster than air.
For now, just today, I beg thee: Hold off!
Deep this miracle is, time fragile and rare.
It may be that in shining years to come
We will live and love, while above thou shinest, O Sun!

But for now, this moment is new, the love
As trembling and wet as butterfly's newborn wing.
I can see streaks of dawn and of moonlight
Running down like rain while bluebirds sing.
Just this once, O Dawn, respond not to their chorus:
Call thou not thy mate, object of love-hate, from the forest!

But the sun still rises, and on the morning
Comes, and I must close my eyes with a sigh.
Thou dost not listen to the prayers of lovers,
O great and mighty Sun, but I had to try.
I want just a few more moments alone with her:
We could chortle at being mortal, and whisper,

And hold each other in the arms of lovers,
And bow our heads to dark and bright, fragrant hair.
All these things we could do, if the dawn delayed!
But the dawn comes on, and then day fast and fair.
Thou must come, Sun, and I no longer sing;
I must return to she who burns my heart with everything.

But perhaps I have been selfish; to keep thee
From thy love, the world, was not my intention, O Sun.
Rise, then, and scatter thine ageless light across fields,
As I will scatter kisses upon my love much more young.
There will be other moments, I believe, other dawns;
Rise, then, rise! Open thine eyes! I have been away too long.