Betrayed My Serenade

A Pair of Life-Crossed Lovers * * * Within a private orchard on the page, Between the lines divorced from act and scene, Of lyric lilts a balcony offstage Composed awaits beneath a deep serene; Therein the music of the lark is still, The moon is constant, and the earth at rest, Adventure slumbers by a dreamless will While story sleeps with drowsing deed and gest; As I and my true verse in whispers purled, In eddied kisses, and in circling arms, Slow whirl from out the currents of the world To drown inside an idle pool of charms -- Till floating up we drain into the street Of drama's passing hour, noise, and heat. * * * To Shari