T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
At Midnight
By George Sterling (18691926)(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 |