English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 722. Her Gifts |
| | | Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) |
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| HIGH grace, the dower of queens; and therewithal | |
| Some wood-born wonder’s sweet simplicity; | |
| A glance like water brimming with the sky | |
| Or hyacinth-light where forest-shadows fall; | |
| Such thrilling pallor of cheek as doth enthral | 5 |
| The heart; a mouth whose passionate forms imply | |
| All music and all silence held thereby; | |
| Deep golden locks, her sovereign coronal; | |
| A round reared neck, meet column of Love’s shrine | |
| To cling to when the heart takes sanctuary; | 10 |
| Hands which for ever at Love’s bidding be, | |
| And soft-stirred feet still answering to his sign:— | |
| These are her gifts, as tongue may tell them o’er. | |
| Breathe low her name, my soul; for that means more. | |
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