In Cornwall and Across the Sea With Poems Written in Devonshire. By Douglas B. W. Sladen |
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 | In Cornwall and Across the Sea |  |
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III.
Under the mistletoe, who holds her hands now
Out-stretched submissively, and yields her lips,
Without demur, to love's repeated sips,
Delighting in her newly-fitted bands now?
Out-stretched submissively, and yields her lips,
Without demur, to love's repeated sips,
Delighting in her newly-fitted bands now?
Is this the girl-Lucretia, who repelled him,
With crimson-mantling cheek and shrinking form,
And with reproach half-pleading and half-warm,
So that half-fear, half-penitence withheld him?
With crimson-mantling cheek and shrinking form,
And with reproach half-pleading and half-warm,
So that half-fear, half-penitence withheld him?
If she had suffered him in jest, she could not
Have yielded him so full a gift in fee;
If he had plundered her in jest, he would not
Have found his feast so rich when he was free,
And though his will in wrath she had withstood not,
Without the grace of self restrained would be.
Have yielded him so full a gift in fee;
If he had plundered her in jest, he would not
Have found his feast so rich when he was free,
And though his will in wrath she had withstood not,
Without the grace of self restrained would be.
| In Cornwall and Across the Sea | |