LOVE'S LANGUAGE

Just now a wave of perfume floated up

To greet my senses as I broke the seal

Of her short letter; and I still can feel

It stir me as a saint the holy cup.

The missive lies there,— but a few plain words:

A thought about a song, a note of praise,

And social duties such as fill the days

Of women; then a thing that undergirds

The phrases like a psalm: a line that reads-

“I wish that you were coming!” Why, it lies

Upon my heart like blossoms on the skies,

Like breath of balm upon the clover meads.

The perfumed words soothe me into a dream;

My thoughts float to her on the scented stream.