T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Love Athirst
By Ruth Bassett Eddy(From The Pagan, 1920) LAST night, do you recall? You turned your head, | |
| And laid your lips to mine, as we lay there | |
| Under the stars. The sweetness of the night | |
| Somehow became a part of that long kiss, | |
| Until, grown weak with passion, | 5 |
| You fell asleep. But I could not find rest. | |
| The lips that clung to mine no longer gave | |
| A passionate response. They were | |
| Soft and warm and still against my own,— | |
| The lips of a contented, sleepy child. | 10 |
| And oh, I was ashamed—ashamed to feel | |
| Desire to take from your unconscious lips | |
| The drink love had to offer you and me. | |
| I would have been content to let the hours | |
| Go on toward endless time, if I could lie | 15 |
| Against your body’s close and yielding warmth; | |
| Heart to heart and breath to breath, | |
| My mouth against your own until I knew | |
| The sweet exhaustion that had given you sleep. | |