Clark Ashton Smith

January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961

The Dragon-Fly

By the clear green river,
One afternoon in early autumn,
A dragon-fly with crimson wings alit
On the white thigh of my belovèd;
And, ever since it flew,
More fully have I known the loveliness
And the transiency of days;
And love and beauty burn within me
Like the piled leaves of blood and amber
That burn at autumn's ending.
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