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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  To Have and to Hold

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

To Have and to Hold

Anonymous
 
(From The Point of View)

TO have and to hold and to kiss you,
  ’Til your eyelids softly close,
To strain to your side and to miss you,
  When again the daylight glows
Is better far than to meet you,        5
  And clasping hand to hand.
While others, calmly greet you,—
  They do not understand.
 
I could wish to seek you, only
  When you feel a hungry need—        10
When the hours of night are lonely
  And the longing heart-strings bleed.
I would wish to hold you near me,
  To bless you and call you fair,
’Til your senses ceased to fear me        15
  And you—not I—would dare.
 
I could wish to read your dreaming
  And always read aright,
’Til the clouds and doubts of seeming,
  In a hurried host, took flight.        20
I could wish to ask no question,
  But to know, each day and hour,
Each subtle, sweet suggestion;
  Each bud that bursts to flower.
 
I could wish to bring you, ever,        25
  The Heaven-born gift of choice,
I could wish to jar you, never,
  With thoughts I dare not voice.
And yet—I could wish to hold you
  In a long, wild, mad embrace,        30
’Til the tale of love was told you,
  With the love-light on your face.
 
I could love you in storm and lightning,
  Your heart athrill with fear,
Your wet limbs round me tight’ning,        35
  And oh! so near! so near!
I could love you in the morning,
  When the sun climbs up the sky,
Or, the stars of midnight scorning,
  Within your round arms—die.        40
 
For the depth and breadth of passion,
  Is to love with a royal will;
Who loveth in idle fashion,
  The cup of joy will spill.
Then come, if you so must will it,        45
  Away to the realms of space,
And feed the fire of my desire,
  With the glory in your face.