My lank limp lily, my long lithe lily, My languid lily-love, fragile and thin, With dank leaves dangling and flower-flap chilly, That shines like the skin of a Highland gilly! Mottled and moist as a cold toad's skin! Lustrous and leper-white, splendid and splay! Art thou not utter? and wholly akin To my own wan soul and my own wan chin, And my own wan nose-tip, like to sway The peacock's feather, sweeter than sin, That I bought for a halfpenny, yesterday! My long lithe lily, my languid lily, My lank limp lily-love, how shall I win! -- Woo thee to wink at me? Silver lily, How shall I sing to thee, softly, or shrilly? What shall I weave for thee -- which shall I spin -- Rondel, or rondeau, or virelay? Shall I bee-like buzz, with my face thrust in Thy choice, chaste chalice, or choose me a tin Trumpet, or touchingly, tenderly play On the weird bird-whistle, sweeter than sin, That I bought for a halfpenny, yesterday? My languid lily, my lank limp lily, My long lithe lily-love, men may grin -- Say that I'm soft and supremely silly -- What care I, while you whisper stilly; What care I, while you smile? Not a pin! While you smile, while you whisper -- 'Tis sweet to decay! I have watered with chlorodine tears of chagrin, The churchyard would I have planted thee in Upside down, in an intense way In a round flowerpot, sweeter than sin, That I bought for a halfpenny, yesterday. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BONNYBELL: THE BUTTERFLY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS HOMAGE TO SEXTUS PROPERTIUS: 4. DIFFERENCE OF OPINION WITH LYGDAMUS by EZRA POUND IMPRESSIONS OF FRANCOIS-MARIE AROUET (DE VOLTAIRE) by EZRA POUND THREE SPRING NOTATIONS ON BIPEDS by CARL SANDBURG THE DIORAMA PAINTER AT THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY by KAREN SWENSON AFTER PARTING by SARA TEASDALE |