"Smith, Clark Ashton - The Lotus and The Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Clark Ashton)

The Lotus and the Moon

by Clark Ashton Smith

December 18, 1929.


I stood with my beloved in the lotus pool, when the moon was round as the great
ivory breast of a Titaness, and the flowers were full-blown and pale upon the
water.

And I said to my beloved: "I would that thou shouldst love me well
tonight. For never again shall there be a night like this, with the meeting of
thee and me by this selfsame ripe and rounded moon, by this pool with flowers
blown but not overblown."

But she demurred, and was perverse, and loved me not as I would that she
should love me.

And after several nights, we stood again by the lotus pool, when the
moon was hollow as an ageing breast, and the petals of the flowers had fallen
apart on the water.

And now my beloved was faint to love me well, and all was well between
us. But in my heart I mourned for that other night, when the moon was round as
the great ivory beast of a Titaness, and the flowers were full-blown and pale
upon the water.