(Suggested by the lives of Napoleon and Josephine.) <br /> <br />I. <br /> <br />ONE night was full of rapture and delight- <br />Of reunited arms and swooning kisses, <br />And all the unnamed and unnumbered blisses <br />Which fond souls find in love of love at night. <br /> <br />Heart beat with heart, and each clung into each <br />With twining arms that did but loose their hold <br />To cling still closer; and fond glances told <br />These truths for which there is no uttered speech. <br /> <br />There was sweet laughter and endearing words, <br />Made broken by the kiss that could not wait, <br />And cooing sounds as of dear little birds <br />That in spring-time love and woo and mate. <br /> <br />And languid sighs that breathed of love's content <br />And all too soon this night of rapture went. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />II. <br /> <br />One night was full of anguish and of pain, <br />Of nerveless arms and mockery of kisses; <br />And those caresses where one sick heart misses <br />The quick response the other cannot feign. <br /> <br />Hands idly clasped and unclasped, and lost hold, <br />And the averted eyes that turned away, <br />And in whose depths no love nor longing lay, <br />The saddest of all truths too plainly told. <br /> <br />There was salt sorrow and the gall of tears, <br />Some useless words that ended in a moan, <br />And a dull dread of long unending years <br />When one must walk forever more alone. <br />Deep shuddering sighs told more than lips could say; <br />And the long night of sorrow wore away.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/two-nights/
