Wild honey from various thyme By Michael Field [i.e. K. H. Bradley and E. E. Cooper] |
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| I. | I A KISS |
| II. |
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 | Wild honey from various thyme |  |
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I
A KISS
The fury of a creature when it drips
Wet-fanged, and thirsty with the desert dust,
The clench in battle of a sword that must
Ravish the foe, the pang of finger-tips—
Joy of a captain in recovered ships,
Joy, verity of a long-buried lust
Delightsome to the flesh, is in the thrust
Toward Absalom of the king's tarried lips.
And, lo, beneath that awful benison,
A thief's face glittered, sniffing at the gems
Of the bent crown as they were cassia-stems;
While the young ears heard but the rolling on
Of chariots, and a tumult, broke amain
By rumour of an agèd monarch slain.
| Wild honey from various thyme | |