AFTERMATH

AST night, we fled, close locked, in sweet embrace,

Across the empty kingdom men call "Space."

So deep the solitude, I could but feel

Your fear within. It made my senses reel.

I clasped you closer, with encircling arm,

As though to shield you from impending harm

And like a zephyr, from the sun-kissed South,

I felt the pressure of your trembling mouth.

A flame shot through my soul, in that first kiss.

I was on fire. I knew no thought but this;

I loved you--mind, heart, body, brain and soul.

And had--since centuries first began to roll.

And when your melting mouth had answered mine,

Within your eyes, a new-born light divine

Proclaimed the wondrous miracle was done,

And our two souls had melted into one.

Oh! idiot Earth, to waste the dew of youth,

Along the borderlands of perfect truth!

Oh! dolts and dullards, with your feet of clay!

To shun the glorious light of perfect day!

In that first kiss, the past was all laid bare.

The future years, transparent as the air

In swift procession, swept across our path

And left me drunk, with love's sweet aftermath.