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Stand on the highest pavement of the stair -- Lean on a garden urn -- Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair -- Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise -- Fling them to the ground and turn With a fugitive resentment in your eyes: But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair. So I would have had him leave, So I would have had her stand and grieve, So he would have left As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised, As the mind deserts the body it has used. I should find Some way incomparably light and deft, Some way we both should understand, Simple and faithless as a smile and a shake of the hand. She turned away, but with the autumn weather Compelled my imagination many days, Many days and many hours: Her hair over her arms and her arms full of flowers. And I wonder how they should have been together! I should have lost a gesture and a pose. Sometimes these cogitations still amaze The troubled midnight, and the noon's repose.
Added: 30 May 2002 | Last Read: 3 Sep 2026 4:17 AM | Viewed: 11118 times
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