To one in another mood

Djuna Barnes (1892-1982)

O dear beloved, shall I not go back
From gazing you always with wet eyes,
And mournful kisses from these lips where lies
More honey than your aloes? Must I crack
Still darker herbs, and sighing keep the track
With feigned lamenting and with fearful cries,
Slow twining you about with blasphemies
Because I would be dancing? Nay, I lack
The needed dull intoning of despair.
Nor in me echoes your too sombre mood,
Nor is it in my heart. Nor anywhere
Within my flesh the very flesh you wooed.
Then wherefore shall I loose my braided hair
Hiding my eyes, pretending that I brood?