Fountainhead

I did not delight in love so much
As in a kiss like linnets’ wings,
The flutterings of a pulse so soft
The heart remembers, as it sings:
To bathe there was its transport, brushed
By marble lips, or porcelain,–
One liquid kiss, one cool outburst
From pale rosettes. What did it mean…

To float awhirl on minute tides
Within the compass of your eyes,
To feel your alabaster bust
Grow cold within? Ecstatic sighs
Seem hisses now; your eyes, serene,
Reflect the sun’s pale tourmaline.

Originally published by Romantics Quarterly

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Related poetry:

So, so, rock-a-by so! So, so, rock-a-by so! Off to the garden where dreamikins grow; And here is a kiss on your winkyblink eyes, […]...

After the Engagement Well, Mabel, ’tis over and ended – The ball I wrote was to be; And oh! it was perfectly splendid […]...

Dead Men's Love There was a damned successful Poet; There was a Woman like the Sun. And they were dead. They did not […]...

In A Gondola The moth’s kiss, first! Kiss me as if you made believe You were not sure, this eve, How my face, […]...

The Kiss Returned AS WILLIAM walking with his wife was seen, A man of rank admired her lovely mien. Who gave you such […]...

PUBLISHERS And then they pretend like owls With marble eyes and wizened stupidity I do not know why they cannot perceive […]...

THE PEARL FISHERMAN This evening and part of the night I sank again into the dense sea Where we beings and things float. […]...

Mismet He was leaning by a face, He was looking into eyes, And he knew a trysting-place, And he heard seductive […]...

The Genesis of the Butterfly The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers That kiss the buds, […]...

O Beauty, Passing Beauty! O beauty, passing beauty! Sweetest sweet! How can thou let me waste my youth in sighs? I only ask to […]...

Living The fire in leaf and grass So green it seems Each summer the last summer. The wind blowing, the leaves […]...

I Live, I Die, I Burn, I Drown I live, I die, I burn, I drown I endure at once chill and cold Life is at once too […]...

A Minute She plucked a blossom fair to see; Upon my coat I let her pin it; And thus we stood beneath […]...

By the Spring, at Sunset Sometimes we remember kisses, Remember the dear heart-leap when they came: Not always, but sometimes we remember The kindness, the […]...

Long Sight In Age They say eyes clear with age, As dew clarifies air To sharpen evenings, As if time put an edge Round […]...

Prospice Fear death?-to feel the fog in my throat, The mist in my face, When the snows begin, and the blasts […]...

Growing Old What is it to grow old? Is it to lose the glory of the form, The lustre of the eye? […]...

Unforgotten I know a garden where the lilies gleam, And one who lingers in the sunshine there; She is than white-stoled […]...

Lost Love His eyes are quickened so with grief, He can watch a grass or leaf Every instant grow; he can Clearly […]...

The Night Dance Strike the gay harp! see the moon is on high, And, as true to her beam as the tides of […]...

Sonnet XXII: Love, Banish'd Heav'n Love, banish’d Heav’n, on Earth was held in scorn, Wand’ring abroad in need and beggary, And wanting friends, though of […]...

A Song Of Winter Weather It isn’t the foe that we fear; It isn’t the bullets that whine; It isn’t the business career Of a […]...

Sign-Post Civilized, crying: how to be human again; this will tell you how. Turn outward, love things, not men, turn right […]...

Liaison A big bud of moon hangs out of the twilight, Star-spiders spinning their thread Hang high suspended, withouten respite Watching […]...

An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan All hail to the Rev. George Gilfillan of Dundee, He is the greatest preacher I did ever hear or see. […]...

Misconceptions This is a spray the Bird clung to, Making it blossom with pleasure, Ere the high tree-top she sprung to, […]...

At Melville's Tomb Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge The dice of drowned men’s bones he saw bequeath An embassy. Their […]...

If If there were more than one of me I’d shave my head and grow my beard I’d be a Doctor […]...

Love Will Wane When your love begins to wane, Spare me from the cruel pain Of all speech that tells me so – […]...

Tz'u No. 9 (Weary) To the tune of “Rinsing Silk Stream” Saddened by the dying spring, I am too weary To rearrange my hair. […]...

Dream tryst The breaths of kissing night and day Were mingled in the eastern Heaven, Throbbing with unheard melody, Shook Lyra all […]...

Sicilian Lullaby Hush, little one, and fold your hands; The sun hath set, the moon is high; The sea is singing to […]...

Some time Last night, my darling, as you slept, I thought I heard you sigh, And to your little crib I crept, […]...

The Nude Swim On the southwest side of Capri We found a little unknown grotto Where no people were and we Entered it […]...

Charon 2004 I, too, have stood paralyzed at the helm Watching onrushing, inevitable disaster. I too have felt sweat (or ecstatic tears) […]...

A Man Young And Old: XI. From Oedipus At Colonus Endure what life God gives and ask no longer span; Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man; […]...

THE CRUEL MAID AND, cruel maid, because I see You scornful of my love, and me, I’ll trouble you no more, but go […]...

TO ELECTRA I dare not ask a kiss, I dare not beg a smile; Lest having that, or this, I might grow […]...

Paper Boats Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running Stream. In bid black letters I […]...

Herman Altman Did I follow Truth wherever she led, And stand against the whole world for a cause, And uphold the weak […]...