Our passion is a secret paradise—
Eden of lotos and the fruitful date,
With silence walled and held undesecrate
By man or prying seraph: we are wise
As any god and goddess, who have wrung
From roseal fruitage of a bough forbidden
The happy wine we drink, we drink unchidden,
Deep in the vales where vernal leaves are young,
And the first poppies loiter. . . . Though the breath
Of all the gods a bolted storm prepare,
Till blood-red gloom of thunders blind the sun,
Shall we not turn with clinging kisses there,
And, laughing, quaff some dreamless wine of death—
Triumphant still, in mere oblivion ?
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927.
The author died in 1961, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 60 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.