| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Any Lover, Any Lass | | By Richard Middleton (1882–1911) |
| | | WHY are her eyes so bright, so bright, | |
| Why do her lips control | |
| The kisses of a summer night, | |
| When I would love her soul? | |
| |
| God set her brave eyes wide apart | 5 |
| And painted them with fire; | |
| They stir the ashes of my heart | |
| To embers of desire. | |
| |
| Her lips so tenderly are wrought | |
| In so divine a shape, | 10 |
| That I am servant to my thought | |
| And can no wise escape. | |
| |
| Her body is a flower, her hair | |
| About her neck doth play; | |
| I find her colours everywhere, | 15 |
| They are the pride of day. | |
| |
| Her little hands are soft, and when | |
| I see her fingers move | |
| I know in very truth that men | |
| Have died for less than love. | 20 |
| |
| Ah, dear, live, lovely thing! my eyes | |
| Have sought her like a prayer; | |
| It is my better self that cries | |
| ‘Would she were not so fair!’ | |
| |
| Would I might forfeit ecstasy | 25 |
| And find a calmer place, | |
| Where I might undesirous see | |
| Her too desirèd face: | |
| |
| Nor find her eyes so bright, so bright, | |
| Nor hear her lips unroll | 30 |
| Dream after dream the lifelong night, | |
| When I would love her soul. | | | | |
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