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nned at the moment, scarcely sad, Till I raised my wail of desolate complaint For you, my cousin, brother, all I had. They said I looked so pale,--some say so fair,-- My lord stopped in passing to soothe me back to life: I know I missed a ringlet from my hair Next morning; and now I am his wife. Look at my gown, Philip, and look at my ring, I'm all crimson and gold from top to toe: All day long I sit in the sun and sing, Where in the sun red roses blush and blow. And I'm the rose of roses says my lord; And to him I'm more than the sun in the sky, While I hold him fast with the golden cord Of a curl, with the eyelash of an eye. His mother said "fie," and his sisters cried "shame," His high-born ladies cried "shame" from their place: They said "fie" when they only heard my name, But fell silent when they saw my face. Am I so fair, Philip? Philip, did you think I was so fair when we played boy and girl, Where blue forget-me-nots bloomed on the brink Of our stream which the mill-wheel sent awhirl? If I was fair then sure I'm fairer now, Sitting where a score of servants stand, With a coronet on high days for my brow And almost a sceptre for my hand. You're but a sailor, Philip, weatherbeaten brown, A stranger on land and at home on the sea, Coasting as best you may from town to town: Coasting along do you often think of me? I'm a great lady in a sheltered bower, With hands grown white through having naught to do: Yet sometimes I think of you hour after hour Till I nigh wish myself a child with you. WHAT WOULD I GIVE? What would I give for a heart of flesh to warm me through, Instead of this heart of stone ice-cold whatever I do; Hard and cold and small, of all hearts the worst of all. What would I give for words, if only words would come; But now in its misery my spirit has fallen dumb: O, merry friends, go your way, I have never a word to say. What would I give for tears, not smiles but scalding tears, To wash the black mark clean, and to thaw the frost of years, To wash the stain ingrain and to make me clean again. THE BOURNE. Underneath the growing grass, Underneath the living flowers, Deeper than the sound of showers: There we shall not
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