Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Janet Adam Smith |
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| IV. | IV
Ne Sit Ancillae Tibi Amor Pudori
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 | Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems |  |
IV
Ne Sit Ancillae Tibi Amor Pudori
There's just a twinkle in your eye
That seems to say I might, if I
Were only bold enough to try
An arm about your waist.
That seems to say I might, if I
Were only bold enough to try
An arm about your waist.
I hear, too, as you come and go,
That pretty nervous laugh, you know;
And then your cap is always so
Coquettishly displaced.
That pretty nervous laugh, you know;
And then your cap is always so
Coquettishly displaced.
Your cap! the word's profanely said,
That little topknot, white and red,
That quaintly crowns your graceful head,
No bigger than a flower,
That little topknot, white and red,
That quaintly crowns your graceful head,
No bigger than a flower,
You set with such a witching art,
And so provocatively smart,
I'd like to wear it on my heart,
An order for an hour!
And so provocatively smart,
I'd like to wear it on my heart,
An order for an hour!
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O graceful housemaid, tall and fair,
I love your shy imperial air,
And always loiter on the stair,
When you are going by.
I love your shy imperial air,
And always loiter on the stair,
When you are going by.
A strict reserve the fates demand;
But, when to let you pass I stand,
Sometimes by chance I touch your hand
And sometimes catch your eye.
But, when to let you pass I stand,
Sometimes by chance I touch your hand
And sometimes catch your eye.
| Robert Louis Stevenson: Collected Poems | |