Lines Inspired On Meeting A Lady

To A. L.

I look at life as an astronomer Looks at the star-filled sky.

Life seems a sky to me, all human beings Rotating in their orbits are as stars. Some are obscure and some are luminous, Some give the light and warmth to solar systems, Some shed on lovers' heads soft lunar light. Some, like the comets, cosmic vagabonds, Are ever tramping the sidereal roads, And others, myriad-massed in endless stretches, Compose the glory of the Milky Way.

I look at life as an astrologer Believing in the influence of stars, Their influences evil, beneficial. Perplexed I ponder o'er the laws mysterious That govern all the movements of the stars. And I am troubled in my inmost being At the appearance of a new-found star As on the threshold of a mystery. There hove into my sphere a new-found star Of primal magnitude, magnificent, Whose magnetism most irrestistibly Attracts me to itself.

Am I to be the happy satellite Of this fair human sun whose smile or frown Could make me be a fertile Earth or Moon, A fertile Earth or frozen, barren Moon? Oh, will it just continue in its course, Rotating in its orbit and recede, Recede, recede, and leave me far behind Obscure and cold and sad and all alone?...