Foliage: Various Poems

SMILES

     I saw a black girl once,
       As black as winter's night;
     Till through her parted lips
       There came a flood of light;
     It was the milky way
       Across her face so black:
     Her two lips closed again,
       And night came back.

     I see a maiden now,
       Fair as a summer's day;
     Yet through her parted lips
       I see the milky way;
     It makes the broad daylight
       In summer time look black:

       And night comes back.