XLVIII

Our arms together twined twin marbles are:

Yours, brown, Numidian, warm, turquoise-veined,

Mine, pale Pentelican, rose, faintly stained—

Two tinted figurines of Tanagra.

In mine I see the north which snowfields mar,

In yours I see the languors unrestrained

Of Asiatic noons—Afric regained—

Life lived beneath a sun oracular.

Be to me, Sweet, a city of the south,

The garden of its richness be your mouth;

In kisses pour Egyptian lavender,

The strange, sleep-swaying scents of Lydia,

Pour on my arms to dull their sharp whiteness

Rose-liquor from the mountains of Cyprus!