| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | Sonnet LVII. True Woman: II. Her Love | | By Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) |
| | (From The House of Life, 1881)
SHE loves him; for her infinite soul is Love, | |
| And he her lodestar. Passion in her is | |
| A glass facing his fire, where the bright bliss | |
| Is mirrored, and the heat returned. Yet move | |
| That glass, a stranger’s amorous flame to prove, | 5 |
| And it shall turn, by instant contraries, | |
| Ice to the moon; while her pure fire to his | |
| For whom it burns, clings close i’ the heart’s alcove. | |
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| Lo! they are one. With wifely breast to breast | |
| And circling arms, she welcomes all command | 10 |
| Of love,—her soul to answering ardours fann’d: | |
| Yet as morn springs or twilight sinks to rest, | |
| Ah! who shall say she deems not loveliest | |
| The hour of sisterly sweet hand-in-hand? | | | | |
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