Diplomacy

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Tell your love where the roses
blow,
And the hearts of the lilies quiver,
Not in the city’s gleam and glow,
But down by a half-sunned river.
Not in the crowded ball-room’s glare,
That would be fatal, Marie, Marie,
How can she answer you then and there?
So come then and stroll with me,
my dear,
Down where the birds call, Marie,
Marie.