| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Queen and Slave | | By Mortimer Collins (1827–1876) |
| | | O HAPPY life, whose love is found! | |
| O happy love, whose life is free! | |
| O happy strings whose soft notes sound | |
| Athwart the sea! | |
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| The sea has mistress in the moon, | 5 |
| The moon has lover in the sea: | |
| They meet too late, they part too soon— | |
| And so do we. | |
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| I am adored, yet must obey; | |
| I am a queen, and yet a slave. | 10 |
| It seems to me the self-same way | |
| With moon and wave. | |
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| O be it so! O let it be! | |
| O may I always rule and serve, | |
| And live the life whose love is free, | 15 |
| And never swerve! | | | | |
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