Part 2 — NOCTURNE
Reading edition
Up to her chamber window A slight wire trellis goes, And up this Romeo's ladder Clambers a bold white rose.
I lounge in the ilex shadows, I see the lady lean, Unclasping her silken girdle, The curtain's folds between.
She smiles on her white-rose lover, She reaches out her hand And helps him in at the window— I see it where I stand!
To her scarlet lip she holds him, And kisses him many a time— Ah, me! it was he that won her Because he dared to climb!
Thomas Bailey Aldrich [1837-1907]