Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (18331908). A Victorian Anthology, 18371895. 1895. |
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The Passionate Reader to His Poet |
| Richard Le Gallienne (18661947) |
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DOTH it not thrill thee, Poet, | |
Dead and dust though thou art, | |
To feel how I press thy singing | |
Close to my heart? | |
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Take it at night to my pillow, | 5 |
Kiss it before I sleep, | |
And again when the delicate morning | |
Beginneth to peep? | |
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See how I bathe thy pages | |
Here in the light of the sun, | 10 |
Through thy leaves, as a wind among roses, | |
The breezes shall run. | |
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Feel how I take thy poem | |
And bury within it my face | |
As I pressed it last night in the heart of a flower, | 15 |
Or deep in a dearer place. | |
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Think, as I love thee, Poet, | |
A thousand love beside, | |
Dear women love to press thee too | |
Against a sweeter side. | 20 |
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Art thou not happy, Poet? | |
I sometimes dream that I | |
For such a fragrant fame as thine | |
Would gladly sing and die. | |
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Say, wilt thou change thy glory | 25 |
For this same youth of mine? | |
And I will give my days i the sun | |
For that great song of thine. | |
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