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Collected Poems

The Impetuous Lover

The Impetuous Lover

This is the time, the appointed place,
love's paratroops have hit the ground,
surprise is scrawled across your face—
soft, not a sound!

The floor sways up to meet the wall,
my blood is up, my cab can't wait.
Tell me, before the pictures fall,
tell me my fate!

Tell me with passion's flaming tongue
as here before your throne I kneel,
tell me, before the trap is sprung—
how do you feel?

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Speak to me now, for love's sweet sake,
send me a wire, my gay entrancer.
I warn you I shall never take
"No!" for an answer.

See—in my buttonhole I wear
the tiger lily of desire!
Its fumes are more than flesh can bear—
Speak, or I Fire!

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