dots-menu
×

Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Sonnet VII. Supreme Surrender

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

Sonnet VII. Supreme Surrender

By Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
 
(From The House of Life, 1881)

TO all the spirits of Love that wander by
  Along his love-sown harvest-field of sleep
  My Lady lies apparent; and the deep
Calls to the deep; and no man sees but I.
The bliss so long afar, at length so nigh,        5
  Rests there attained. Methinks proud Love must weep
  When Fate’s control doth from his harvest reap
The sacred hour for which the years did sigh.
 
First touched, the hand now warm around my neck
  Taught memory long to mock desire: and lo!        10
  Across my breast the abandoned hair doth flow,
Where one shorn tress long stirred the longing ache:
And next the heart that trembled for its sake
  Lies the queen-heart in sovereign overthrow.