Alan Seeger

Thirty Sonnets. 20. I Loved...

I loved illustrious cities and the crowds
That eddy through their incandescent nights.
I loved remote horizons with far clouds
Girdled, and fringed about with snowy heights.
I loved fair women, their sweet, conscious ways
Of wearing among hands that covet and plead
The rose ablossom at the rainbow's base
That bounds the world's desire and all its need.
Nature I worshipped, whose fecundity
Embraces every vision the most fair,
Of perfect benediction.  From a boy
I gloated on existence.  Earth to me
Seemed all-sufficient and my sojourn there
One trembling opportunity for joy.