LÂILA SLEEPS
by: Harold Greenthal
- HOU
art tired, Lâila, warm and tired. Thine eyes stay longer
shut than open, for poppy-dust is flying in the air, and a diamond-drop,
fresh as rose dew, glitters from the dimple in thy chin.
-
- Sleep, lovely Lâila, sleep, and I will watch thee through
the night. The moon's soft lambent rays light up thy ruby lips;
thy throat gleams white, and thy flower-like breasts tempt my
wanton finger-tips.
-
- How calm the night! How calm her sleep! How hot the fire
in my veins! Ah, little houri, now art thou mine. In my hands
are thine--so pink and soft and warm. I steal a hasty kiss from
thy red lips and bathe my face in the odor of thy hair!
-
- Sleep on, my Lâila, nor ope thy weary lids. Through
this long night of love I'll guard thee. Sleep on, O tired eyes;
O ruby lips, sleep on; O musky mole, O warm, soft hands, O kiss-red
breasts, sleep on, sleep on!
"Lâila Sleeps" is
reprinted from Poetica Erotica. Ed. T.R. Smith. New York:
Crown Publishers, 1921. |
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POEMS BY HAROLD GREENTHAL |
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