That fawn-skin-dappled hair of hers,
And the blue eye
Dear and dewy,
And that infantine fresh air of hers!
To think men cannot take you, Sweet,
And enfold you,
Ay, and hold you,
And so keep you what they make you, Sweet!
You like us for a glance, you know---
For a word's sake
Or a sword's sake,
All's the same, whate'er the...
Let's contend no more, Love,
Strive nor weep:
All be as before, Love,
---Only sleep!
What so wild as words are?
I and thou
In debate, as birds are,
Hawk on bough!
See the creature stalking
While we speak!
Hush and hide the talking,
Cheek on cheek!
What so false as truth is,
False to thee?
Where the serpent's tooth is...
Sweet-breathed and young,
The people’s daughter,
No nerves unstrung,
Going to slaughter!
“Good morning, friends,
You ’ll love us better,—
Make us amends:
We ’ve burst your fetter!
“How the sun gleams!
(Women are snarling):
Give me your beams,
Liberty’s darling!
“Marie ’s my name;...
I fear no power a woman wields
While I can have the woods and fields,
With comradeship alone of gun,
Gray marsh-wastes and the burning sun.
For aye the heart’s most poignant pain
Will wear away ’neath hail and rain,
And rush of winds through branches bare
With something still to do and dare,
The lonely watch beside the shore,...
I Will not look for him, I will not hear
My heart’s loud beating, as I strain to see
Across the rain forlorn and hopelessly,
Nor, starting, think ’t is he that draws so near.
I will forget how tenderly and dear
He might in coming hold his arms to me,
For I will prove what woman’s pride can be
When faint love lingers in the darkness drear...
From Elizabeth A. Sharp’s “Lyra Celtica”
TELL us some of the charms of the stars:
Close and well set were her ivory teeth;
White as the canna upon the moor
Was her bosom the tartan bright beneath.
Her well-rounded forehead shone
Soft and fair as the mountain snow;
Her two breasts were heaving full;
To them did the hearts...
From “Love’s Labor ’s Lost,” Act IV. Sc. 3.
KING.—But what of this? are we not all in love?
BIRON.—Nothing so sure; and thereby all forsworn.
KING.—Then leave this chat; and, good Biron, now prove
Our loving lawful, and our faith not torn.
DUMAIN.—Ay, marry, there; some flattery for this evil.
LONGAVILLE.—O, some authority how to proceed...
Let not woman e’er complain
Of inconstancy in love;
Let not woman e’er complain
Fickle man is apt to rove;
Look abroad through Nature’s range,
Nature’s mighty law is change;
Ladies, would it not be strange
Man should then a monster prove?
Mark the winds, and mark the skies;
Ocean’s ebb and ocean’s flow;
...
I Will not let you say a woman’s part
Must be to give exclusive love alone;
Dearest, although I love you so, my heart
Answers a thousand claims besides your own.
I love,—what do I not love? Earth and air
Find space within my heart, and myriad things
You would not deign to heed are cherished there,
And vibrate on its very inmost...
Before I trust my fate to thee,
Or place my hand in thine,
Before I let thy future give
Color and form to mine,
Before I peril all for thee, question thy soul to-night for me.
I break all slighter bonds, nor feel
A shadow of regret:
Is there one link within the past
That holds thy spirit yet?
Or is thy faith as...
