| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Neighbor Moon | | By Charles deGuire Christoph |
| | From “Reflections”
I LIKE a bulb of ivory ready to burst | |
| The moon came up beside us; | |
| It reminded me of her beautiful body, | |
| Beginning to swell with my new child. | |
| |
| The swelling moon smiled down | 5 |
| Half in pain, half in fear, | |
| And laid her long fingers on my wife’s hair. | |
| My love beside me pressed my hand, | |
| Proud with white majesty | |
| From the mother moon. | 10 |
| |
II Gentle moon, | |
| Will you kiss it, my baby, | |
| When it lies sleeping | |
| Beside her? | |
| |
| Give it | 15 |
| Her beauty, | |
| Her passion, | |
| Gentle moon. | |
| |
III Already her breasts are swollen. | |
| Suddenly the light of the moon penetrates her | 20 |
| And proudly she takes me in her arms. | |
| |
| In the moonlight her hair seems like cold metal, | |
| But when I touch it, it is soft and warm. | |
| She is tired and quiet in my arms, | |
| And listens absently to the little noises of the night. | 25 |
| In her eyes | |
| I see the reflection of the blood running | |
| Through her bosom into the veins of her child. | |
| |
IV Moon, chaste one, | |
| Forgive me | 30 |
| If under your rays | |
| I have been brutal with caresses. | |
| You had many breasts then, | |
| You were insatiable then, | |
| Chaste moon. | 35 | | | |
|
|
