Crumpled Gold

Ringing laughter and far calling songs
of youthful voices, happy, gay . . .
a lanthorn's crumpled gold
flung on waters whispering below,
and sea-bewitching lights
that stream
in wavering green and deepening golds
and crimson richly toned
across the trembling waters,
silken-smooth
and blackly shining rhythmically . . .
cool sea-airs upon the silent night;
slim masts pointing past the stars
with white ropes lined in vivid clarity
and rigid-patterned grace
upon the summer sky. . . .

a.

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"My health is good. I lost no one of any importance. I put my losses at three thousand killed and wounded."—From a letter written by Napoleon to Empress Marie Louise in 1813.