Afternoon

<SPAN name="VII"></SPAN>VII<br/> <br/> <br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweetly and more sweetly still</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cradle in your arms my head,</span><br/> My fevered eyes and forehead wearied;<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweetly and more sweetly still</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Kiss my lips and say</span><br/> Words made sweeter at each break of day<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">When uttered by your voice:</span><br/> That you are given to me and that I love you still.<br/> <br/> The day has broken dull and sad; my sleep<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was swept with sombre dreams;</span><br/> The rain lets down its dusky hair in streams,<br/> And skies are lost in dreary clouds that weep.<br/> <br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweetly and more sweetly still</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cradle in your arms my head,</span><br/> My fevered eyes and forehead wearied;<br/> You are to me the gracious morn<br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose caress is in your hand:</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Behold, I am reborn,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">With no evil or dismay,</span><br/> Unto the daily work which marks my way,<br/> <span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">&mdash;A sign</span><br/> That makes me live in an heroic strife,<br/> A sword of beauty and of power divine<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Against invidious life.</span><br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />