"The Phantom Guest" by Natalie Clifford Barney

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend June 30, 2018   The Phantom Guest   Natalie Clifford Barney

We lay in shade diaphanous And spoke the light that burns in us   As in the glooming's net I caught her, She shimmered like reflected water!   Romantic and emphatic moods Are not for her whom life eludes...   Its vulgar tinsel round her fold? She'd rather shudder with the cold,   Attend just this elusive hour, A shadow in a shadow bower,   A moving imagery so fine, It must have been her soul near mine   And so we blended and possessed Each in each the phantom guest,   Inseparate, we scarcely met; Yet other love-nights we forget!                This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   This poem was originally published in Poems & Poèmes (George H. Doran, 1920).   Natalie Clifford Barney was born in 1876 in Dayton, Ohio. During her lifetime, she published five poetry collections, including Poems & Poèmes: Autres Alliances (Emile Paul, 1920) and The One Who Is Legion (Eric Partridge, 1930). She also published three volumes of epigrams, two essay collections, one novel, and three memoirs. She died in 1972 at her home in Paris, France. "Summer Night, Riverside" by Sara Teasdale "The Giver of Stars" by Amy Lowell "Love" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning June Guest Editor: D. A. Powell   Thanks to D. A. Powell, author of Repast: Tea, Lunch, and Cocktails (Graywolf Press, 2014), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about Powell and our guest editors for the year. Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038