Poem text:
Orange gleams athwart a crimson soul
Lambent flames; purple passion lurks
In your dusk eyes.
Red mouth; flower soft,
Your soul leaps up—and flashes
Star-like, white, flame-hot.
Curving arms, encircling a world of love,
You! Stirring the depths of passionate desire!-- Alice Dunbar-Nelson
from a handwritten manuscript dated 1921.
Links:
Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, edited by Gloria T. Hull
The Works of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, edited by Gloria T. Hull