 | Verse in bloom |  |
20
HIS BRIDE
All work is over, Fragrance! Come and bloom
Among the books and papers in my room.
Among the books and papers in my room.
Come with a bubble of laughter. Firmly hug
Your knees while flowering radiant on the rug,
Your knees while flowering radiant on the rug,
And be a language better than the Tongue
That's proud to keep the heart of Shakespeare young.
That's proud to keep the heart of Shakespeare young.
Three hours have passed since, bending down to share
The sunrise captive in a web of hair,
The sunrise captive in a web of hair,
I learned again what Love is glad to teach:
How beautifully Silence fails of speech.
How beautifully Silence fails of speech.
21
Three hours have perished. Adjectives and nouns,
Frettings, and tiny trenches made by frowns,
Frettings, and tiny trenches made by frowns,
And duels fought between my work and play,
And violent magnets tearing me away
And violent magnets tearing me away
From foolscap to the circle of the bed
Of pansies brightly looking at your head,
Of pansies brightly looking at your head,
Have wearied me at last, though Duty tried
To imitate the sweetness of a bride.
To imitate the sweetness of a bride.
Swift as a startled blackbird, speed to bloom
Amid the paper jungle in my room,
Amid the paper jungle in my room,
And, with the hurry of your panting breath,
Puff Tyrant Semi-colon to his death!
Puff Tyrant Semi-colon to his death!
Then sit as you delight to sit, and hug
Your knees while dimpling on the Persian rug;
Your knees while dimpling on the Persian rug;
Or bend above the manuscript, to look
How fast you grow and blossom in my book;
How fast you grow and blossom in my book;
22
Or dart behind the sofa when I say
I've kissed you only fifty times to-day.
I've kissed you only fifty times to-day.
I think the pansies have already spent
The whole, or most, of their astonishment
The whole, or most, of their astonishment
At being petted here for half an hour
By such a velvety and puzzling Flower.
By such a velvety and puzzling Flower.
All work is done, my Radiance! Smile and bloom—
A bud of immortality—in my room;
A bud of immortality—in my room;
For there, with you to listen and reply,
The rug's a flower-bed, and the ceiling sky.
The rug's a flower-bed, and the ceiling sky.
| Verse in bloom | |