| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | In a Gondola | | By Robert Browning (1812–1889) |
| | | 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 | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| A bud that dares not disallow | |
| The claim, so all is render’d up, | |
| And passively its shatter’d cup | |
| Over your head to sleep I bow. | | | | |
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