Sweet As Starlight In The Garden Of Love

The evening has come falling, falling,
Pure as the may
Now gathered away,
Soft as the sound of a seabird calling.
The evening flowers are opening in welcome,
And you, my love- you are well come,
Tripping along the garden path in the fading day.

Sweet the sound of your footsteps is,
But wounded your eyes,
Because from sunrise
You must pretend to be his.
But when the evning comes slowly dreaming,
Then you can put off your seeming-
Abandon your mask, and drop down your guise.

The evening flowers towards you slowly turn,
To your splendor
Giving surrender,
Though no sun above them may burn.
You stand shining in the garden in your true form,
While all about you the flowerbuds swarm,
White as a dove's throat, and as slender.

For a little time in the dusk of the days,
As they become nights,
Our curving flights
Insure that, though neither far strays,
We meet, and then together beat our eager hearts.
We becomes mistressess of the seductress's arts,
There in the garden, in the day's fading lights.

You rip free of your gown and dance,
Your dark hair behind,
As free as your mind,
As free as your heart, as your shy glance.
I come up, and them- I am yours, you mine,
As our white limbs in the garden entwine,
And we lie on the grass, making love, entwined.

As the night turns to glass overhead,
I look down at you,
Sleeping in dew
On the soft grass of our garden-bed,
And think that, if the world held any justice,
There would be no danger, no hiding for us,
Nothing but open love, as open as true.

But that cannot be, not yet.
We must meet,
Our hearts quickly beat,
In the wash of day's retreating scarlet.
But, my love, I swear there shall come a day
When I will not with the dawn softly steal away.
Then we will the sunrise with love-making greet.

I reclaim my half-torn gown,
And then from above,
Light as a dove,
To grace thee with a farewell kiss I bend down.
You stir and smile and murmur my name in your hair.
Dawn is new-coming as I leave you there,
Sweet as starlight in the garden of love.