T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
At Midnight
By George Sterling (1869–1926)(1921) CAST round me now your arms’ cool wreath of white! | |
| Forget the day’s far wakening, and lie | |
| More close! Without, the weary world goes by, | |
| Hawking its cheats and nostrums in the night. | |
| Be wise a-sudden, giving not a glance | 5 |
| To any anodyne its dupes prescribe | |
| Art, lore, gold, fame and power, each tinsel bribe | |
| That turns the flesh from its inheritance. | |
| This is the only wealth, the only goal | |
| Where one shall stand unhoodwinked for a space, | 10 |
| Gazing upon the Truth with tranquil face,— | |
| Daring to show Life’s pitfalls to the soul. | |
| Take payment now for all accurséd hours, | |
| All pain and waste and dreariness, all care! | |
| These are the moments purchased by despair, | 15 |
| And this the joy to which thy sorrow flow’rs. | |
| Wrench from the niggard Fates thy ransomed bliss! | |
| Accept the breathless transports that atone, | |
| With toils the gods were glad to find their own, | |
| And seas of sense that thunder at a kiss. | 20 |