STAR GAZING.

I camped last night in a desert grey ’Neath the eyes of a million stars, For they all had come in their vestments gay, Like a laughing host in the wake of day, To the shrine of the midnight bars. And satyrs slid on the glinting spars Of light, through the halls of space, And Venus served from the vintage jars, And a blossom shone on the nose of Mars And a smile on the old Moon’s face. My castle’s roof was the spangled sky And its carpet of sea-green moss; And its walls were curtained with tapestry, ... And the face of her I had kissed Good-bye Was enshrined in the Southern Cross. As I gazed, the stars kept clustering, And closer and closer crept, Until I and they, we were all a-swing, When an owl flew down on a drowsy wing And we blew out the light ... and slept.