I stood with my beloved in the lotus pool, when the moon was round as the great ivory breast of a Titaness, and the flowers were full-blown and pale upon the water.

And I said to my beloved: "I would that thou shouldst love me well tonight. For never again shall there be a night like this, with the meeting of thee and me by this selfsame ripe and rounded moon, by this pool with flowers blown but not overblown."

But she demurred, and was perverse, and loved me not as I would that she should love me.

And after several nights, we stood again by the lotus pool, when the moon was hollow as an ageing breast, and the petals of the flowers had fallen apart on the water.

And now my beloved was faint to love me well, and all was well between us. But in my heart I mourned for that other night, when the moon was round as the great ivory beast of a Titaness, and the flowers were full-blown and pale upon the water.

December 18, 1929.