En.Citatepedia^®.ro

Words

Out of us all
That make rhymes
Will you choose
Sometimes -
As the winds use
A crack in a wall
Or a drain,
Their joy or their pain
To whistle through -
Choose me,
You English words?

I know you:
You are light as dreams,
Tough as oak,
Precious as gold,
As poppies and corn,
Or an old cloak:
Sweet as our birds
To the ear,
As the burnet rose
In the heat
Of Midsummer:
Strange as the races
Of dead and unborn:
Strange and sweet
Equally,
And familiar,
To the eye,
As the dearest faces
That a man knows,
And as lost homes are:
But though older far
Than oldest yew, -
As our hills are, old, -
Worn new
Again and again:
Young as our streams
After rain:
And as dear
As the earth which you prove
That we love.

Make me content
With some sweetness
From Wales
Whose nightingales
Have no wings, -
From Wiltshire and Kent
And Herefordshire, -
And the villages there, -
From the names, and the things
No less.
Let me sometimes dance
With you,
Or climb
Or stand perchance
In ecstasy,
Fixed and free
In a rhyme,
As poets do.

poem by Edward Thomas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Young Poets

You speak for the lakes, the trees and the birds
You say what they'd say if they had the words.
Make PEACE and be proud, choose well every choice
Speak HOPE and speak loud, you are Nature's voice.
Speak with respect now, for jungles and streams,
Speak for all wildlife and dream giant dreams.
Speak with great courage, speak up and speak out,
Write with a whisper or write with a SHOUT!
Stand up young poets for clean air and rivers,
Free verse or lyric; your message delivers...
Truth to the future citizens of earth,
Speak of your freedom your friends and self worth.
Speak for tomorrow and though you're still young,
Speak for the Forest, your pen is her tongue.
The world waits to hear your songs still unsung
Words posses power, you can write the wrongs
Teach us and lead us with Poems and with songs.
Speak now for nature, for trees and for birds,
Defenders of Earth choose carefullly your words!

poem by ToddMichael St. Pierre
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Beyond

It seemeth such a little way to me
Across to that strange country – the Beyond;
And yet, not strange, for it has grown to be
The home of those whom I am so fond,
They make it seem familiar and most dear,
As journeying friends bring distant regions near.

So close it lies, that when my sight is clear
I think I almost see the gleaming strand.
I know I feel those who have gone from here
Come near enough sometimes, to touch my hand.
I often think, but for our veiled eyes,
We should find heaven right round about us lies.

I cannot make it seem a day to dread,
When from this dear earth I shall journey out
To that still dear country of the dead,
And join the lost ones, so long dreamed about.
I love this world, yet shall I love to go
And meet the friends who wait for me, I know.

I never stand above a bier and see
The seal of death set on some well-loved face
But that I think ‘One more to welcome me,
When I shall cross the intervening space
Between this land and that one “over there”;
One more to make the strange Beyond seem fair.’

And so for me there is no sting to death,
And so the grave has lost its victory.
It is but crossing – with a bated breath,
And white, set face – a little strip of sea,
To find the loved ones waiting on the shore,
More beautiful, more precious than before.

poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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At Last

O the years I lost before I knew you,
Love!
O, the hills I climbed and came not to you,
Love!
Ah! who shall render unto us to make
Us glad
The things which for and of each other's sake
We might have had?

If you and I had sat and played together,
Love,
Two speechless babes in the summer weather,
Love,
By one sweet brook which, though it dried up long
Ago,
Still makes for me today a sweeter song
Than all I know-

If hand-in-hand through the mysterious gateway,
Love
Of womanhood, we had first looked and straightway,
Love,
Had whispered to each other softly, ere
It yet
Was dawn, what now in noonday heat and fear
We both forget-

If all of this had given its completeness,
Love,
To every hour, would it be added sweetness,
Love?
Or ill
With thee? One wish could I more sweetly tell,
More swift fulfill?

Ah, vainly thus I sit and dream and ponder,
Love,
Losing the precious present while I wonder,
Love,
About the days in which you grew and came
To be
So beautiful, and did not know the name
Or sight of me.

But all lost things are in the angel's keeping,
Love;
No past is dead for us, but only sleeping,
Love;
The years of heaven will all earth's little pain
Make good,
Together there we can begin again,
In babyhood.

poem by Helen Hunt Jackson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Why Do I Love?

Why do I love?
Is it for men to choose
The hour of the hushed night when crowned with dews
From its sea grave the morning star shall wake?
Lo, while we drowsed, it rose on our heart's ache,
And all our heaven was red with the day's hues,
And glad birds chaunted from the trees above.
So was it with my heart that might not choose
But woke to love.

Why do I love?
The aureole of lost days
Is on thy brow and unforgotten face;
Faith's guiding light, the same which of old time
Sent men on knightly quests to deeds sublime
And the high prize which was their lady's grace.
Thither I follow, careless what shall prove,
So only at thy knees a little space
I too may love.

Why do I love?
The paths of life are steep,
And dark the issues and the gulfs how deep!
This wayside shrine invites my knees to kneel.
Thou, dearest Saint, in witness of my zeal
Biddest me walk in joy who only weep,
And fare forth comforted who vainly strove.
See how my steps in thy sweet service leap!
See how I love!

Why do I love?
There is a dream that stirs
My soul to its last depth of lost desires,
Music of waters in a thirsty land,
A step, a touch, the lingering of a hand,
Fingers that are the soft Spring's messengers,
And lips that to my kisses part and move
With passionate words which yet--how strange!--are hers,
Pleading for love.

Why do I love?
If one had told me this,
When I erewhile in the world's wilderness
Wandered uncertain or of Heaven or Hell,
How had I laughed as at a time--worn tale!
To--day, behold. I too speak prophecies,
And hang my votive garland in the grove,
And supplicate my god, and kneel and kiss
Her feet for love.

Why do I love?
Ah, love, I will not make
A longer reasoning even for thy sake;
Be it enough that I am pleasure's thrall.
Tell me thy will, in song or madrigal
Or word unspoken. Bid me bend or break,
And brave all wraths of Earth or Heaven above,
But not thy wrath. Ah! bid me not awake.
Bid me still love.

poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Fading Out

packing my bags and heading out on my own
making choices that will shape the future days I have to come
and I could choose the easy road but I have to be strong cause
I don't want to spend a lifetime knowing that I've chosen wrong
And it's so bittersweet these decisions I must make
throwing one choice to the wolves for the other one I make
and that itself seems wrong to me cause I am still so young
how can I choose right when my life has just begun
is it so bad to be unsure now woah ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out
those who are older say my mind should be made up
headed on some path to greatness but I think that's messed up
cause there's so many options and I want to try them all
but now for some strange reason my back's against the wall
and it's so bittersweet these decisions I must make
throwing one choice to the wolves for the other one I make
and that itself seems wrong to me cause I am still so young
how can I choose right when my life has just begun
is it so bad to be unsure now woah ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out
(x2)is it so bad to be unsure now whoa ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out

song performed by by Unsung Zeros
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Metal Beat

Nobody knew me so I bought some time.
An hour or two with a friend of mine.
Somebody lied so I burned their soul.
Somebody screamed and the fire burned cold.
I cure things, sweet young things.
I take the pain away.
I cure things, sweet young things.
I soothe the pain away.
I cure things, sweet young things.
I take the pain away.
I cure things, sweet young things.
Like someone walks on their grave.
I booked a small room in a cheap motel.
Somewhere to hide and a cure to sell.
I call it fashion, Ill make them bleed.
No one to love but a ghost to feed.
I was a puppet pulling my own strings.
I cant believe that I did such things.
I was a shadow but God forgives.
Now Im a priest and jesus lives.
- adlib -
I cure things, sweet young things.
I take the pain away.
I cure things, sweet young things.
I take the pain away.
I cure things, sweet young things.
I take the pain away.
I cure things, sweet young things.
Like someone walks on their grave.
How can I save you if you dont confess?
Kneel down bitch be truly blessed.

song performed by by Gary Numan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fading Ou

packing my bags and heading out on my own
making choices that will shape the future days I have to come
and I could choose the easy road but I have to be strong cause
I don't want to spend a lifetime knowing that I've chosen wrong
And it's so bittersweet these decisions I must make
throwing one choice to the wolves for the other one I make
and that itself seems wrong to me cause I am still so young
how can I choose right when my life has just begun
is it so bad to be unsure now woah ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out
those who are older say my mind should be made up
headed on some path to greatness but I think that's messed up
cause there's so many options and I want to try them all
but now for some strange reason my back's against the wall
and it's so bittersweet these decisions I must make
throwing one choice to the wolves for the other one I make
and that itself seems wrong to me cause I am still so young
how can I choose right when my life has just begun
is it so bad to be unsure now woah ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out
is it so bad to be unsure now whoa ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out
is it so bad to be unsure now whoa ooo ooo
age is supposed to clear things up
but my future is fading out

song performed by by Unsung Zeros
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Rhyme And The Reason

you rhyme
it is nice to hear that
you're sweet
and people love to hear that too
you're reason itself
arriving at conclusions
based on solid
premises

but my dear
you are human too
despite the reasons
you choose not to rhyme
sometimes
you choose to bleed
and even choose to die
and people with reason
knows how is it not
to rhyme sometimes

when a loved one dies
when a beloved
betrays you
when fortunes are taken
at the wink of
the eye

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Faces & Names

Faces and names, I wish they were the same
Faces and names only cause trouble for me
Faces and names
If we all looked the same and we all had the same name
I wouldnt be jealous of you or you jealous of me
Faces and names
I always fall in love with someone who looks
The way I wish that I could be
Im always staring at someone who hurts
And the one they hurt is me
Faces and names, to me theyre all the same
If I looked like you and you looked like me
Thered be less trouble you see
Faces and names, I wish theyd go away
Id disappear into that wall and never talk
Talk, not talk
I wish I was a robot or a machine
Without a feeling or a thought
People who want to meet the name I have
Are always disappointed when they meet me
Faces and names, I wish they were the same
Faces and names only cause problems for me
Faces and names
Id rather be a hole in the wall
Looking out on the other side
Id rather look and listen, listen and not talk
To faces and names
If I had a breakdown when I was a kid
I lost my hair when I was young
If you dress older when youre not
As your really age you look the same
If we all looked the same, we wouldnt play these games
Me dressing for you and you dressing for me
Undressing for me
Faces and names, if they all were the same
You wouldnt be jealous of me or me jealous of you
Me jealous of you, me jealous of you
Your face and your name
Your face and your name
Faces and names
Faces and names

song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Strange Magic

Youre sailing softly through the sun
In a broken stone age dawn.
You fly so high.
I get a strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic.
Youre walking meadows in my mind,
Making waves across my time,
Oh no, oh no.
I get a strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic.
Oh, Im never gonna be the same again,
Now Ive seen the way its got to end,
Sweet dream, sweet dream.
Strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic.
Its magic, its magic, its magic.
Strange magic,
Oh, what a strange magic,
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic.
Strange magic strange magic
Oh, what a strange magic strange magic
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic.
Strange magic strange magic
Oh, what a strange magic strange magic
Oh, its a strange magic.
Got a strange magic,
Got a strange magic,
You know I got a strange magic,
Yeah, I got a strange magic,
Oo-o-o-oo, strange magic. (fade)

song performed by by Electric Light Orchestra
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Midsummer

After the May time and after the June time
Rare with blossoms and perfume sweet,
Cometh the round world's royal noon time,
The red midsummer of blazing heat,
When the sun, like an eye that never closes,
Bends on the earth its fervid gaze,
And the winds are still, and the crimson roses
Droop and wither and die in its rays.
Unto my heart has come this season,
O, my lady, my worshiped one,
When, over the stars of Pride and Reason,
Sails Love's cloudless, noonday sun.
Like a great red ball in my bosom burning
With fires that nothing can quench or tame,
It glows till my heart itself seems turning
Into a liquid lake of flame.
The hopes half shy and the sighs all tender,
The dreams and fears of an earlier day,
Under the noontide's royal splendor,
Droop like roses, and wither away.
From the hills of Doubt no winds are blowing,
From the isles of Pain no breeze is sent, -
Only the sun in a white heat glowing
Over an ocean of great content.
Sink, O my soul, in this golden glory!
Die, O my heart, in thy rapture-swoon!
For the Autumn must come with its mournful story.
And Love's midsummer will fade too soon.

poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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After Looking into Carlyles Reminiscences

I.

THREE MEN lived yet when this dead man was young
Whose names and words endure for ever one:
Whose eyes grew dim with straining toward the sun,
And his wings weakened, and his angel’s tongue
Lost half the sweetest song was ever sung,
But like the strain half uttered earth hears none,
Nor shall man hear till all men’s songs are done:
One whose clear spirit like an eagle hung
Between the mountains hallowed by his love
And the sky stainless as his soul above:
And one the sweetest heart that ever spake
The brightest words wherein sweet wisdom smiled.
These deathless names by this dead snake denied
Bid memory spit upon him for their sake.

II.

Sweet heart, forgive me for thine own sweet sake,
Whose kind blithe soul such seas of sorrow swam,
And for my love’s sake, powerless as I am
For love to praise thee, or like thee to make
Music of mirth where hearts less pure would break,
Less pure than thine, our life-unspotted Lamb.
Things hatefullest thou hadst not heart to damn,
Nor wouldst have set thine heel on this dead snake.
Let worms consume its memory with its tongue,
The fang that stabbed fair Truth, the lip that stung
Men’s memories uncorroded with its breath.
Forgive me, that with bitter words like his
I mix the gentlest English name that is,
The tenderest held of all that know not death.

poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Girl Youre So Together

Girl youre so together
Together we can make it, all the way
If I had a chance to choose
Between a million bucks and you
Id choose you babe, yeah
Its no dreams
But with proof as sweet as you, noo
Apples peaches and cherries
Just wont do, ooh baby
Even the flowers and lollipops
Could never hope to top
The sweetness of your kiss
Can you dig it?
Girl youre so together
And together we can make it, all the way, yeah, yeah
If I had a chance to choose
Between a million bucks and you
Id choose you babe
(choose you babe)
Girl your smile, ooh
Is like the month of may, yeah
When youre near me
The storm clouds stay away, yeah
Even the little honey bees
Turn to you when they need more honey
Love you so much its not funny
Girl youre so together
And together we can make it all the way, yeah
Oh, girl, youre so together
Oh, hey girl, girl, eye, eye, popper
A real life traffic stopper
A knock-out queen
Oh, what I mean is
Girl youre so together
And together we can make it all the way
Oh, I love her, I love her, I love, I love you babe
(girl youre so together)
Yeah
(and together we can make it all the way)
Ooh, girl, youre so together
(repeat and fade out)

song performed by by Michael Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Love Isn't Easy

Do you remember the first time, and all of your sweet sweet talk
Ain't heard it a lot since then love
Now look at that guy, he's making me cry
He leaves everybody and he only says goodbye
But if i would have to choose i wouldn't let you go
Just give it some more time and you will see our love will grow
Darling i know
We gotta have patience
Love isn't just a sensation
Some of the time it gets rough
Love isn't easy but it sure is hard enough
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Giving love is a reason for living
But a few things can be tough
Love isn't easy but it sure is hard enough
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
From the first moment i saw you i've treated you like a queen
I've given you lots of presents
Now listen to that, just look at that cat
You'd think he was an angel but he's talking through his hat
But if i would have to choose i wouldn't let you go
Just give it some more time and you will see our love will grow
Darling i know
We gotta have patience
Love isn't just a sensation
Some of the time it gets rough
Love isn't easy but it sure is hard enough
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Giving
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Love is a reason for living
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
But a few things can be tough
Love isn't easy but it sure is hard enough
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Patience
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Love isn't just a sensation
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Some of the time it gets rough
Love isn't easy but it sure is hard enough
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Giving
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
Love is a reason for living
(sweet sweet, our love is bitter-sweet)
But a few things can be tough
Love isn't easy but it sure is hard enough

song performed by by ABBA
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Cadences

I
(MINOR)

THE ANCIENT memories buried lie,
And the olden fancies pass;
The old sweet flower-thoughts wither and fly,
And die as the April cowslips die,
That scatter the bloomy grass.

All dead, my dear! And the flowers are dead,
And the happy blossoming spring;
The winter comes with its iron tread,
The fields with the dying sun are red,
And the birds have ceas’d to sing.

I trace the steps on the wasted strand
Of the vanish’d springtime’s feet:
Wither’d and dead is our Fairyland,
For Love and Death go hand in hand
Go hand in hand, my sweet!

II
(MAJOR)

OH, what shall be the burden of our rhyme,
And what shall be our ditty when the blossom’s on the lime?
Our lips have fed on winter and on weariness too long:
We will hail the royal summer with a golden-footed song!

O lady of my summer and my spring,
We shall hear the blackbird whistle and the brown sweet throstle sing,
And the low clear noise of waters running softly by our feet,
When the sights and sounds of summer in the green clear fields are sweet.

We shall see the roses blowing in the green,
The pink-lipp’d roses kissing in the golden summer sheen;
We shall see the fields flower thick with stars and bells of summer gold,
And the poppies burn out red and sweet across the corn-crown’d wold.

The time shall be for pleasure, not for pain;
There shall come no ghost of grieving for the past betwixt us twain;
But in the time of roses our lives shall grow together,
And our love be as the love of gods in the blue Olympic weather.

poem by John Howard Payne
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Youth and Age

Dance on, dance on, we see, we see
Youth goes, alack, and with it glee,
A boy the old man ne'er can be;
Maternal thirty scarce can find
The sweet sixteen long left behind;
Old folks must toil, and scrape, and strain,
That boys and girls may once again
Be that for them they cannot be,
But which it gives them joy to see,
Youth goes and glee; but not in vain
Young folks if only you remain.

Dance on, dance on, 'tis joy to see;
The dry red leaves on winter's tree,
Can feel the new sap rising free.
On, on, young folks; so you survive,
The dead themselves are still alive;
The blood in dull parental veins
Long numbed, a tingling life regains.
Deep down in earth, the tough old root
Is conscious still of flower and fruit.
Spring goes and glee but were not vain:
In you, young folks, they come again.

Dance on, dance on, we see, we feel;
Wind, wind your waltzes, wind and wheel,
Our senses too with music reel;
Nor let your pairs neglect to fill
The old ancestral scorned quadrille.
Let hand the hand uplifted seek,
And pleasure fly from cheek to cheek;
Love too; but gently, nor astray,
And yet, deluder, yet in play.
Dance on; youth goes: but all's not vain,
Young folks, if only you remain.

Dance on, dance on, 'tis joy to see;
We once were nimble e'en as ye,
And danced to give the oldest glee;
O wherefore add, as we, you too,
Once gone your prime cannot renew;
You too, like us, at last shall stand
To watch and not to join the band,
Content some day (a far-off day)
To your supplanters soft to say,
Youth goes, but goes not all in vain,
Young folks, so only you remain,
Dance on, dance on, 'tis joy to see.

poem by Arthur Hugh Clough
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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To Li Po (Li Bai) and Uriah

Dear Li Po,
strange things happen to poets
during their life,
especially those who like wine.

But now, more than a thousand years
after your suicide,
men have named a crater on
the planet Mercury with your name…
Mercury, the planet the Greeks called
Hermes Apollo, messenger of gods and poets;
the shining one;

although men have not been there yet.
When they do, they may find you
sitting in your crater, watching the Moon
(we think it will appear to you
two times a day instead of once…)
and drinking wine with Uriah;
(and your shadows will be there too,
tall on the crater’s slope…)
you’re teaching him Chinese;
he’s translating your poems into English
with your approval.

He’d like that. We hope you would.
A strange place for immortals to drink wine;
but poets do and say strange things;
that’s why we love them, just as
children love surprises,
dear Li Po.

poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Night In Babylon.

We whom to-night Love keeps awake
For his own joy, may one day break
Our fast in some Lethéan cave,
When we but a faint memory have,
Or none, of such dear nights as this.
Sweetheart! thy lips again to kiss,
Thy limbs to fold, though all ends thus
And time makes such poor wrecks of us,
Who feast to-night on Love's own food
As in a heavenly solitude,
And drink his wine, — this bliss of ours
Which makes our bodies bloom like flowers,
In whose quick scents our souls escape
We know not where — each wingéd shape
That haply shall elude the curse
When we have lost the universe
In this night's Babylonian heart —
Have then lost all that may impart
Life to the dead, the lust of that
On which the purple heart grows fat,
And thrills to prove that it can be
The bourne of its own ecstasy
Within a paradise whose skies
Have never known the sun to rise
Nor all the moony rapture wane!
Clasp me, Sweetheart! and kiss again
Until we have so drunk the light
Of this delirious sweet night
Our souls may nevermore be dry,
Though death our bodies may deny
The power to appease that thirst
Which Love's heat raised within us first
Ere he had taught our lips and eyes
The purport of his paradise,
And made the trembling senses take
The night for day, and keep awake
With all the strange delights that are
Under our Babylonian star
That came from chaos, it may be,
To guard our first night's mystery,
And let his cloak of glory lie
Over us, dear, who would not die.
Ah, Sweetheart! if all comes to this,
And we must lose the sum of bliss
(When we lie by the Lethéan wave
And know that nothing Love can save)
We may forget ourselves, and be
Content with Death's tranquillity.

poem by Robert Crawford
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Dividing Line

There has always been a dividing line
But you choose, you choose, yes you choose not to see it
And then you wonder why you fall
It cuts through the heart of every city
If you climb to the top of the highest building
You can see where it falls cause the streetlights stop
The colours start to change
You hear a voice inside you
Not the words that you wanted to hear
Not the things that you wanted to see hey, hey, hey, hey
In the comfort and safety of your own home
Remember those outside in the cold
And the wind and the rain
And take in your hands a little ray of light
And turn it into a beam that pierces the darkness of the night
There has always been a dividing line
But you choose, you choose, yes you choose not to see it
Sometimes we believe if we close our eyes
The rain might wash it away
Thats why we stumble and we fall
Not the words that you wanted to hear
Not the things that you wanted to see hey, hey, hey, hey
When everything that you hold dear to you
Has finally faded away from your life
The last cold ray of sunshine slowly disappears
Round the corner of the building
And leaves you alone
When darkness covers the city and the streets are silent too
What will you turn to...

song performed by by Genesis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Women and Roses

I

I dream of a red-rose tree.
And which of its roses three
Is the dearest rose to me?

II

Round and round, like a dance of snow
In a dazzling drift, as its guardians, go
Floating the women faded for ages,
Sculptured in stone, on the poet's pages.
Then follow women fresh and gay,
Living and loving and loved to-day.
Last, in the rear, flee the multitude of maidens,
Beauties yet unborn. And all, to one cadence,
They circle their rose on my rose tree.

III

Dear rose, thy term is reached,
Thy leaf hangs loose and bleached:
Bees pass it unimpeached.

IV

Stay then, stoop, since I cannot climb,
You, great shapes of the antique time!
How shall I fix you, fire you, freeze you,
Break my heart at your feet to please you?
Oh, to possess and be possessed!
Hearts that beat 'neath each pallid breast!
Once but of love, the poesy, the passion,
Drink but once and die!—In vain, the same fashion,
They circle their rose on my rose tree.

V

Dear rose, thy joy's undimmed,
Thy cup is ruby-rimmed,
Thy cup's heart nectar-brimmed.

VI

Deep, as drops from a statue's plinth
The bee sucked in by the hyacinth,
So will I bury me while burning,
Quench like him at a plunge my yearning,
Eyes in your eyes, lips on your lips!
Fold me fast where the cincture slips,
Prison all my soul in eternities of pleasure,
Girdle me for once! But no—the old measure,
They circle their rose on my rose tree.

VII

Dear rose without a thorn,
Thy bud's the babe unborn:
First streak of a new morn.

VIII

Wings, lend wings for the cold, the clear!
What is far conquers what is near.
Roses will bloom nor want beholders,
Sprung from the dust where our flesh moulders.
What shall arrive with the cycle's change?
A novel grace and a beauty strange.
I will make an Eve, be the artist that began her,
Shaped her to his mind!—Alas! in like manner
They circle their rose on my rose tree.

poem by Robert Browning from Men and Women (1855)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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