Nightfall

Clark Ashton Smith

Low on the lilac breast of eve
The yellow rose of sunset lies...
Beneath my cheek, with little sighs,
I feel thy happy bosom heave.

Ah, darling, let the sun depart,
And night usurp the western hills;
A dearer flame thy bosom fills,
And clearer suns are in my heart.

Love hath no need of other light;
Thy kisses on my lips and eyes,
Are like the dawn in Paradise
That burns upon the lidded sight.

Our bodies find an ecstacy,
A deepening rapture, soft and fair,
Like the blue seas and roseal air
About the isles of Faery.

Thine ardent limbs are mine to hold;
From brow to breast, from knee to side, My kisses and caresses glide,
Like unseen flames of red and gold.

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