Classic Poem

2.

I played on the grass with Mary
And I loosened her dress at the throat
And I kissed her young breasts.

And with her face whiter than they
She said I'm a pure girl
Strange to these ways
None but you will touch me
I do love you and trust you.

And she kissed me
And she trembled and held me so
I could have died with delight and fear
But I kissed her and kissed her
Until her hair was all tumbled down
And her eyes were soft with tears.

Then I felt a cold loneliness come over me
As if I had died and she was not there
Holding my head to her breast.

She might have been telling a dead man her love
I was that faraway and lonely and sad with an unknown fear

3.

Ah how they called me the white white girls
In Venice they were mist floating close.

Suddenly to vanish in a pocket of sunlight
Or they were lights that laughed at me out of the darkness
And left me dreaming in the dark.

They were mostly hidden from me in the other cities of Italy
But I knew they were there by the silence of the shutters
And my own footfalls mocking at me as I walked.

And they ran all over the hills of Ireland
And out of sight into cool waters bathing
When I was far from them.

And the girls of Roumania and Russia were no better
White white parade against the desert
Opening their arms to the dark rider
Unseen by his horse.