94 
ASSUMPTA CANIDIA 
 
That draw out night in kisses to the day ! 
So was I to my seeming as I lay. 
 
That soft smooth-moving ocean of the west 
Under the palm and cactus as it rolled, 
Immortal blue, fixed with immortal gold, 
Moving in rapture with my sleeping breast ! 
The young delicious green, the drunken smell 
Of the fresh earth, the luxury of the glow 
Where many colours mingled into snow, 
Song-marvels in the air desirable. 
So lazily I lay, and watched my eyes 
In the deep fountain’s sun-stirred harmonies. 
 
I loved myself !  O Thou !  (I cried) divine 
Woman more lovely than the flowers of earth ! 
O Self-hood softer than the babe at birth, 
Sweeter than love, more amorous than wine, 
Where is thy peer upon the face of life ? 
I love myself, the daughter of the dawn. 
Come, silken night, in your deep wings withdrawn 
Let me be folded, as a tender wife 
In my own arms imagined !  Let me sleep, 
Unwaking from the admirable deep ! 
 
My arms fell lazily about the bed. 
I lay in some delicious trance.  I fell 
Deep through sleep’s chambers to the gate of Hell, 
And on that flaming portalice I read