AMBERGRIS 
127 
 
 
 
FROM ORPHEUS 
 
Autumn 
 
Full amber-breasted light of harvest-moon, 
And sheaves of corn remembering the un 
Laughing again for love of that caress 
When night is fallen, and the sleepy swoon 
Of warm waves lap the shoreland, one by one ; 
Forgetful kisses like a dream’s possess 
All the low-lying land, 
And statelier than the swaying form 
Of some loud God, lifting the storm 
In his disastrous hand, 
Steps the sweet-voiced, the mellow motherhood 
Glad of the sun’s kiss, full of life, well wooed 
And won and brought to his bed, 
Proud of her rhythm in the lusty kiss, 
Triumphant and exulting in the mood 
Wherein her being is 
Crowned with a husband’s head, 
And left in solitude which is not solitude. 
 
She strides with mighty steps across the glade 
Laughing, her bosom swelling with the milk 
Born of a million kisses :  leaps her womb 
Pregnant with fruits, and latter flowers, and shade 
Of the great cedar-groves :  soft, soft as silk, 
Her skin glows amber, silvered with the bloom 
Mist-like of the moon’s light, 
A slumberous haze of quietude 
Shed o’er the hardy limbs, and lustihood, 
And boldness, and great might. 
Earth knows her daring daughter, and the sea 
Breaks into million-folded mystery 
Of flower-like flashes in the pale moonrise,