 | Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac |  |
I.
This is her hand, her cool and fragrant hand:
Long lissome fingers, soft as the south wind;
A roseleaf palm, which Love's own kiss would find
Sweet as the rose; and many a thin blue strand
Vein'd in the white, our homage to command.
All grace of form and colour has combined
To give us this fair index of a mind
Pure as her hands, and not less nobly plann'd.
Long lissome fingers, soft as the south wind;
A roseleaf palm, which Love's own kiss would find
Sweet as the rose; and many a thin blue strand
Vein'd in the white, our homage to command.
All grace of form and colour has combined
To give us this fair index of a mind
Pure as her hands, and not less nobly plann'd.
Ah, tender toys, so slight, so flexible!
Can they too share the strenuous work of life,
And help their owner to do long and well
The duties of a woman and a wife;
Or, may they brook no labour more severe
Than just to charm the eye and soothe the ear?
Can they too share the strenuous work of life,
And help their owner to do long and well
The duties of a woman and a wife;
47
Than just to charm the eye and soothe the ear?
| Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac | |