IF spicy-fringed pinks that blush and pale With passions of perfume, -- if violets blue That hint of heaven with odor more than hue, -- If perfect roses, each a holy Grail Wherefrom the blood of beauty doth exhale Grave raptures round, -- if leaves of green as new As those fresh chaplets wove in dawn and dew By Emily when down the Athenian vale She paced, to do observance to the May, Nor dreamed of Arcite nor of Palamon, -- If fruits that riped in some more riotous play Of wind and beam than stirs our temperate sun, -- If these the products be of love and pain, Oft may I suffer, and you love, again. BALTIMORE, Christmas, 1880. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE TO A WOOD by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT A DOUBTFUL CHOICE by EDWARD DE VERE FIRST FIG by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY INVITED GUESTS by FRANCES EKIN ALLISON I WOULD BE THE SUN by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS BROTHER GENE by EVA K. ANGLESBURG SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 21. THE WORLD'S MARRIAGE MORN by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |