Clark Ashton Smith

January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961

Yerba Buena

The fragrant leaf and small white flower!
The fragile wreath my fingers twined
Amid your fleece in some lost hour
Flown seaward with the summer wind.

The fragile wreath my fingers twined
Still wafts a perfume wild and sweet
Flown seaward with the summer wind
Within that place where laurels meet—

Still wafts a perfume wild and sweet—
Crushed by the limbs and breasts of love
Within that place where laurels meet
Amid the ocean-fronting grove.

Crushed by the limbs and breasts of love,
Ever it mounts from bygone days
Amid the ocean-fronting grove
Where summer comes but never stays.

Ever it mounts from bygone days,
The wild sweet memory we share,
Where summer comes but never stays,
Drunk with a philter-laden air,

The wild sweet memory we share!
Amid your fleece in some lost hour
Drunk with a philter-laden air,
The fragrant leaf and small white flower!
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