But that is why you see me pass
The honeysuckle there,
And leave the lilies in the grass,
Although they be so fair;
Why the strange orchid half-accurst--
Circe of flowers she grows--
Can tempt me not: see! in my heart,
Silver and gold, my rose.
II
Deep in a hidden lane we were,
My little love and I;
When lo! as we stood kissing there--
A flower against the sky!
Frail as a tear its beauty hung--
O spare it, little hand.
But innocence like its, alas!
Desire may not withstand.
And so I clambered up the bank
And threw the blossom down,
But we were sadder for its sake
As we walked back to town.
A LOVE-LETTER
Darling little woman, just a little line,
Just a little silver word
For that dear gold of thine,
Only a whisper you have so often heard:
Only such a whisper as hidden in a shell
Holds a little breath of all the mighty sea,
But think what a little of all its depth and swell,
And think what a little is this little note of me.
'Darling, I love thee, that is all I live for'--
There is the whisper stealing from the shell,
But here is the ocean, O so deep and boundless,
And each little wave with its whisper as well.
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