Sketches from Life in Town and Country And some Verses: By Edward Carpenter: With Portrait |
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THE SLEEPING VENUS |
 | Sketches from Life in Town and Country |  |
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THE SLEEPING VENUS
Still, as she sleeps, betwixt her slender brows
The calm of summer and dim twilight dwells;
Day's faint vermilion, clear with evening bells,
Fitfully on her sleep-flushed temple glows.
The calm of summer and dim twilight dwells;
Day's faint vermilion, clear with evening bells,
Fitfully on her sleep-flushed temple glows.
Her lips, like rosy lovers loth to part,
Make scanty room between them for her breath;
About their wavy outline wandereth
A smile as sweet as when swift sunbeams dart
Make scanty room between them for her breath;
About their wavy outline wandereth
A smile as sweet as when swift sunbeams dart
This way and that upon a windless lake
That ripples roundly ere it sinks to rest;
And to that smile the smooth curves of her breast
And flowing limbs delightful answer make.
That ripples roundly ere it sinks to rest;
And to that smile the smooth curves of her breast
And flowing limbs delightful answer make.
O'er all that placid world of hill and dale
Night from her down-curved eyelids slowly draws
The fragrant gloom of sleep, that overawes
And folds the waking senses in a veil.
Night from her down-curved eyelids slowly draws
The fragrant gloom of sleep, that overawes
And folds the waking senses in a veil.
White shines her forehead as when moon-rays gleam
Blue-veined against the crystal vault of heaven,
Her slumbrous hair in languid tresses woven
Forebodes the rapture of Love's timeless dream.
Blue-veined against the crystal vault of heaven,
Her slumbrous hair in languid tresses woven
Forebodes the rapture of Love's timeless dream.
| Sketches from Life in Town and Country | |