 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
115
NORTH AND SOUTH.
They met beneath the darkening orange treesUpon a perfect evening of the South;
Just light enough was left for mouth to mouth
To find a gentle way when one might please,
And in accordance laughed a lover's breeze
Across the ripples of the broad blue bay
That, softening into night, before them lay,
And washed toward their silent resting knees:
The one was fair with all the lusty bloom
Blown upon faces by the Northern winds,
But she showed that pale passion which the minds
Of sweet Italia's daughters doth consume,
When dark eyes serve to fill the features' room
Covering the countenance with most fervent blinds.
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