.... and White the White Invokes

+... AND WHITE THE WHITE INVOKES

The breasts of white camelias lead the way

Through boskages of cypress and of pine,

The lips of red camelias kiss and slay

Confusions of the blood and quaff the wine;

The leaves and arms and feathers of the old,

Golden and pale mimosas and live oaks

Embrace, protect two bodies 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 passion's wave has ever rent-

That soothe her with an echoed, "innocent."

Structure

15 lines · 2 stanzas