Classic Poem

The breasts of white camellias lead the way
Though boskages of cypress and of pine;
The lips of red camellias kiss and slay
Confusions of the blood and quaff the wine,
While leaves and arms and feathers of the old
Golden and pale mimosas and live oaks
Join and protect two lovers in the mould
Where red the red and white the white invokes.

That she was innocent is now the sigh
She shudders with, imploring all the trees
To stretch a dome of green, wall out the sky,
And fill the cave with silences of seas
Whose calm no passionate wave has ever rent:
Nodding, the deep sea echoes, ‘innocent.’