Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
In a GondolaRobert Browning (1812–1889)
T
Kiss me as if you made believe
You were not sure, this eve,
How my face, your flower, had pursed
Its petals up; so, here and there
You brush it, till I grow aware
Who wants me, and wide ope I burst.
Kiss me as if you entered gay
My heart at some noonday,
A bud that dares not disallow
The claim, so all is render’d up,
And passively its shatter’d cup
Over your head to sleep I bow.