T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
And Day Comes on
By Ezra Pound (1885–1972)(From Portraits, IV) IN orchard under the hawthorne | |
| She has her lover till morn, | |
| Till the traist man cry out to warn | |
| Them. God how swift the night, | |
| And day comes on. | 5 |
| O Plasmatour, that thou end not the night, | |
| Nor take my belovéd from my sight, | |
| Nor I, nor tower-man, look on daylight, | |
| ’Fore God, How swift the night, | |
| And day comes on. | 10 |
| “Lovely thou art, to hold me close and kisst, | |
| Now cry the birds out, in the meadow mist | |
| Despite the cuckold, do thou as thou list, | |
| So swiftly goes the night | |
| And day comes on. | 15 |
| “My pretty boy, make we our play again | |
| Here in the orchard where the birds complain, | |
| ’Till the traist watcher his song unrein, | |
| Ah God! How swift the night | |
| And day comes on.” | 20 |
| “Out of the wind that blows from her, | |
| That dancing and gentle is and Thereby pleasanter, | |
| Have I drunk a draught, sweeter than scent of myrrh. | |
| Ah God! How swift the night. | |
| And day comes on.” | 25 |
| Venust the lady, and none lovelier, | |
| For her great beauty, many men look on her, | |
| Out of my love will her heart not stir. | |
| By God, how swift the night. | |
| And day comes on. Viergier. | 30 |