| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | Rondo | | By George Moore (1852–1933) |
| | (From Flowers of Passion, 1878)
DID I love thee? I only did desire | |
| To hold thy body unto mine, | |
| And smite it with strange fire, | |
| Of kisses burning as a wine, | |
| And catch thy odorous hair, and twine | 5 |
| It thro’ my fingers amorously. | |
| Did I love thee? | |
| |
| Did I love thee? I only did desire | |
| To watch thine eyelids lilywise | |
| Closed down, and thy warm breath respire | 10 |
| As it came through the thickening sighs, | |
| And speak my love in such fair guise | |
| Of passion’s sobbing agony. | |
| Did I love thee? | |
| |
| Did I love thee? I only did desire | 15 |
| To drink the perfume of thy blood | |
| In vision, and thy senses tire | |
| Seeing them shift from ebb to flood | |
| In consonant sweet interlude, | |
| And if love such a thing not be, | 20 |
| I loved not thee. | | | | |
|
|
