There are three kisses that I call to mind, And I will sing their secrets as I go. The first, a kiss too courteous to be kind, Was such a kiss as monks and maidens know;...
O sunlike Liberty, with eyes of flame, Mother and maid, immortal, man's delight! Fairest and first art thou in name and fame And none shall rob thee of thy vested right....
Another night has turned itself to day, Another day has melted into eve, And lo! again I tread the measured way Of word and thought, the twain to interweave, As flowers absorb the rays that they receive....
The warrior knows how fitful is the fight, - How sad to live, - how sweet perchance to die. Is Fame his joy? He meets her on the height, And when he falls he shouts his battle-cry;...
It seems a year, and more, since last we met, Since roseate spring repaid, in part, its debt To thy bright eyes, and o'er the lowlands fair Made daffodils so like thy golden hair...
Glory to thee, my Queen! whom far away My thoughts aspire to,--as the birds of May Aspire o' mornings,--as in lonely nooks The gurgling murmurs of neglected brooks...
O thou refulgent essence of all grace! O thou that with the witchery of thy face Hast made of me thy servant unto death, I pray thee pause, ere, musical of breath,...
Oh, smile on me, thou syren of my soul! That I may curb my thoughts to some control And not offend thee, as in truth I do, Morning, and noon and night, when I pursue...
Dearest and best of maidens, whom the Fates have dower'd with beauty, whom the glory-gates Have shown so splendid in my waking sight, Is't well, thou syren! thus to haunt the night...
Vouchsafe, my Lady! by the passion-flower, And by the glamour of a moonlit hour, And by the cries and sighs of all the birds That sing o'nights, to heed again the words...
Arise, fair Phoebus! and with looks serene Survey the world which late the orb'd Queen Did pave with pearl to please enamour'd swains. Arise! Arise! The Dark is bound in chains,...
I tell thee Sweet! there lives not on the earth A love like mine in all the height and girth And all the vast completion of the sphere. I should be proud, to-day, to shed a tear...
O Love! O Lustre of the sunlit earth That knows thy step and revels in the worth Of thy much beauty! Is't thy will anew, Famed as thou art, to marvel that I sue...
Again, O Love! again I make lament, And, Arab-like, I pitch my summer-tent Outside the gateways of the Lord of Song. I weep and wait, contented all day long...
I who have sung of love and lady bright And mirth and music and the world's delight, Behold! to-day, I sound a sterner note To move the minds of foemen when they fight.
This is the feast-day of my soul and me, For I am half a god and half a man. These are the hours in which are heard by sea, By land and wave, and in the realms of space,...
Ah, fair Lord God of Heaven, to whom we call, - By whom we live, - on whom our hopes are built, - Do Thou, from year to year, e'en as Thou wilt, Control the Realm, but suffer not to fall...
Oh, give me light, to-day, or let me die, - The light of love, the love-light of the sky, - That I, at length, may see my darling's face One minute's space.