dots-menu
×

Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Sonnet: “I am most lovely, fair beyond desire”

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

Sonnet: “I am most lovely, fair beyond desire”

By George Moore (1852–1933)
 
(From Flowers of Passion, 1878)

I AM most lovely, fair beyond desire:
My breasts are sweet, my hair is soft and bright,
And every movement flows by instinct right:
Full well I know my touch doth burn like fire,
That my voice stings the sense like smitten lyre;        5
I am the queen of sensuous delight;
Past years are sealed with the signet of my might;
And at my feet pale present kneels a buyer.
 
My beds are odorous with soft-shed scent,
And strange moon flowers a tremulous twilight air        10
Weave over all; and here, alone I sing
My siren songs, until all souls are bent
Within the subtle sweet melodious snare.
God, making love, made me love’s grievous sting.