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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VARIATIONS ON SAPPHO: 33 by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY

First Line: MAIDS, NOT TO YOU MY MIND DOTH CHANGE
Last Line: MY WEARY BOSOM FILL.
Subject(s): GAYS & LESBIANS; HOMOEROTICISM; LESBIANS; GAY WOMEN; GAY MEN;
Maids, not to you my mind doth change;
Men I defy, allure, estrange,
Prostrate, make bond or free:
Soft as the stream beneath the plane
To you I sing my love's refrain;
Between us is no thought of pain,
Peril, satiety.

Soon doth a lover's patience tire,
But ye to manifold desire
Can yield response, ye know
When for long, museful days I pine,
The presage at my heart divine;
To you I never breathe a sign
Of inward want or woe.

When injuries my spirit bruise,
Allaying virtue ye infuse
With unobtrusive skill:
And if care frets ye come to me
As fresh as nymph from stream or tree,
And with your soft vitality
My weary bosom fill.



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