Volume Ii Part 50 (2/2)

Percy Bysshe Sh.e.l.ley [1792-1822]

LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY

The fountains mingle with the river, And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix forever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle;-- Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven, And the waves clasp one another; No sister flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother; And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea; What are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me?

Percy Bysshe Sh.e.l.ley [1792-1822]

SONG From ”In a Gondola”

The moth's kiss, first!

Kiss me as if you made believe You were not sure, this eve, How my face, your flower, had pursed Its petals up; so, here and there You brush it, till I grow aware Who wants me, and wide ope I burst.

The bee's kiss, now!

Kiss me as if you entered gay My heart at some noonday, A bud that dares not disallow The claim, so all is rendered up, And pa.s.sively its shattered cup Over your head to sleep I bow.

Robert Browning [1812-1889]

SUMMUM BONUM

All the breath and the bloom of the year in the bag of one bee: All the wonder and wealth of the mine in the heart of one gem: In the core of one pearl all the shade and the s.h.i.+ne of the sea: Breath and bloom, shade and s.h.i.+ne,--wonder, wealth, and--how far above them-- Truth, that's brighter than gem, Trust, that's purer than pearl,-- Brightest truth, purest trust in the universe--all were for me In the kiss of one girl.

Robert Browning [1812-1889]

THE FIRST KISS

If only in dreams may man be fully blest, Is heaven a dream? Is she I clasped a dream?

Or stood she here even now where dewdrops gleam And miles of furze s.h.i.+ne golden down the West?

I seem to clasp her still--still on my breast Her bosom beats,--I see the blue eyes beam:-- I think she kissed these lips, for now they seem Scarce mine: so hallowed of the lips they pressed!

Yon thicket's breath--can that be eglantine?

Those birds--can they be morning's choristers?

Can this be earth? Can these be banks of furze?

Like burning bushes fired of G.o.d they s.h.i.+ne!

I seem to know them, though this body of mine Pa.s.sed into spirit at the touch of hers!

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