Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

III. Love’s Beginnings

Kate Temple’s Song

Sir James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk (1827–1905)

ONLY a touch, and nothing more:

Ah! but never so touched before!

Touch of lip, was it? Touch of hand?

Either is easy to understand.

Earth may be smitten with fire or frost—

Never the touch of true love lost.

Only a word, was it? Scarce a word!

Musical whisper, softly heard,

Syllabled nothing—just a breath—

’T will outlast life and ’t will laugh at death.

Love with so little can do so much—

Only a word, sweet! Only a touch!