NIGHT-ON-THE-WATERS

by: Charlotte Eaton

STRONG woman embraced me,

All night holding me closely, her cheek against my cheek.

I, drawn, as to a magnet, slept soundly at intervals, she sleeping not at all,

All night, the wash of calm waters upon the ship's sides, heard in the semi-darkness,

The pulse of the engine, the stoker's shovel feeding the furnaces;

At daybreak rising together, joyful, quick at repartee, laughing merrily,

A sense of new life-force budding at the heart of each.

Each absorbing the native qualities of the other, responding to the needs of the other,

Gladder because of that interchange, henceforth, each conscious of the affinity in the other,

But when on arriving, she left me, my joy went out as a candle that is suddenly extinguished,

So much her strong presence entered into, and possessed me.

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