that day in the park that our secret anxieties guarded

The evening slipped slowly away 

like a launch on a lake of still water. 

The violets trembled and faltered 

as on your breast ardent sighs played. 

 

Close by the fountain I murmured that day 

in the park that our secret anxieties guarded: 

"I am the miner who fervently hoarded 

the wealth of those veins your affections display." 

 

And the peace of that bower was suddenly broken 

as the words "I love you" were quietly spoken. 

A fluttering of wings was heard over the gold 

 

of your feverish head as it timidly lay. 

The evening drew up its curtain at the close of the day 

as the night of a sudden its wings did unfold. 

 

[Xavier Villaurrutia {1903-1950} 'Like a Launch on a Lake', from Homesick for Death: The Complete Poems of Xavier Villaurrutia]