T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
From May Woods
By Zella Muriel Wright(To J. K.) (From A Pagan Anthology, 1918) |
YOU are like all the others— | |
“Will she | |
Or will she not | |
Give me her body?” | |
That is the question | 5 |
That teases and torments you | |
And sends you reeling forth | |
Into the night, | |
Singing to the stars; | |
Or striding angrily down dusty roads, | 10 |
Striking off the heads | |
Of helpless flowers | |
With your cane. | |
And I smile at your agitation | |
The smile you call inscrutable. | 15 |
I smile because I know | |
Only too well | |
That sooner or later—sooner or later— | |
Even I, | |
Knowing the pain | 20 |
And the cost of the aftermath of love…. | |
And after you have known | |
The full strength of my arms | |
To hold you. | |
After you have felt the sting and fire of me, | 25 |
After you have known my longest kiss— | |
A kiss which almost strangles— | |
Instead of being more to you | |
I shall be less….. | |
And you will go | 30 |
Because | |
No longer | |
I smile | |
The smile | |
The smile you call inscrutable. | 35 |