In the Garden-Close at Mezra

When the cactus was in flower, We sat apart together Through the languid noonday hour.

I was her Arab lover, (Of course it was all in play!) And I called her "Star-of-Twilight," And I called her "Dream-of-Day."

She—has she quite forgotten? Soothly, I do not know If ever she tenderly opens The volume of Long Ago.

But I—I can still remember Her lips like the cactus flower In the garden-close at Mezra At the languid noonday hour!