A Song



I've a kiss from a warmer lover
                 Than maiden earth can be:
She blew it up to the skies above her,
                 And now it has come to me;
From the far-away it has come today
                 With a breath of the old salt sea.

She lay and laughed on a lazy billow,
                 Far away on the deep,
Who had gathered the froth for my lady's pillow -
                 Gathered a sparkling heap;
And the ocean's cry was the lullaby
                 That cradled my love to sleep.

Far away on the blue Pacific
                 There doth my lady roam,
That is oft-times gay, but as oft terrific:
                 Her jewels are beads of foam:
In a coral cave, where a blue-green wave
                 Keeps guard, is my lady's home.

She claps her hands, and her henchman hurries
                 West of the sunset sheen:
'Tis he who comes when a mist-wrack scurries,
                 Skirting the deep ravine;
And my heart is stirred by the loving word
                 He carries me from my queen.

A drop distilled from a lotos flower -
                 That is the magic key
To unlock the cage, and my soul has power
                 To gather itself and flee,
At my love's behest, where she waits her guest
                 In a palace beneath the sea.

Joy is ours that is almost anguish:
                 Pain that is almost sweet:
We kiss; and the ocean creatures languish
                 Jealously at our feet;
The sight grows dim, and the senses swim
                 When I and my lady greet.

There to dream, while the soul is swooning
                 Under a woven spell -
Hushed to sleep by her tender crooning
                 Learnt from the ocean swell -
There to rest on her jewelled breast,
                 To love and be loved as well!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:26 min read
115

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABXB CDCDXD EFEFXF GHGHXH ABABIB JKJKXK LMLMIM
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,742
Words 283
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake

Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake was an Australian poet. more…

All Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake poems | Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake Books

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