| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | Sonnet VII. Supreme Surrender | | By Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) |
| | (From The House of Life, 1881)
TO all the spirits of Love that wander by | |
| Along his love-sown harvest-field of sleep | |
| My Lady lies apparent; and the deep | |
| Calls to the deep; and no man sees but I. | |
| The bliss so long afar, at length so nigh, | 5 |
| Rests there attained. Methinks proud Love must weep | |
| When Fate’s control doth from his harvest reap | |
| The sacred hour for which the years did sigh. | |
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| First touched, the hand now warm around my neck | |
| Taught memory long to mock desire: and lo! | 10 |
| Across my breast the abandoned hair doth flow, | |
| Where one shorn tress long stirred the longing ache: | |
| And next the heart that trembled for its sake | |
| Lies the queen-heart in sovereign overthrow. | | | | |
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