Such love thyself mayst live to prove ; JAMES HEDDERWICK. 3 NO AND YES. F I could choose my paradise, And please myself with choice of bliss, Then I would have your soft blue eyes And rosy little mouth to kiss ; Your lips, as smooth and tender, child, As rose-leaves in a coppice wild. If fate bade choose some sweet unrest, THOMAS ASHE. within the lover's breast Burns like Hesper in the West, O'er the ashes of the sun, Till the day and night are done ; Then when dawn drives up his car- Love thy love pours down on mine As the salt breeze on the sail; As the song unto the bird As a dewdrop on the rose GEORGE MEREDITH. IKE an island in a river, Art thou, my love, to me ; And I journey by thee ever I arise to fall before thee, I come to kiss thy feet; And thy love hath power upon me, For the loveliness which won me, And my life it beautifieth Though love be but a shade, Known of only ere it dieth, By the darkness it hath made. PHILIP JAMES BAILEY. THE TREASURE-SHIP. Y heart is freighted full of love, With gems below and gems above, For the wind is blowing summerly. Full strings of nature's beaded pearl, Hath fashioned out mechanic-wise, But all made up of thy blue eyes. And girdles wove of subtle sound, In Paradise, the primal pair, Before Love's art and niceness were. And carcanets of living sighs; Gems that have dropped from Love's own stem, And one small jewel that I prize— |