Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
A Japanese Love-songAlfred Noyes (18801958)
T
But the willows are blue:
Your small lips are red,
But the great clouds are gray:
The waves are so many
That whisper to you;
But my love is only
One flight of spray.
The dark wave is one:
The dark wave subsides,
And the bright sea remains!
And wherever, O singing
Maid, you may run,
You are one with the world
For all your pains.
And your small feet are white,
Tho’ your wide eyes are blue
And the closed poppies red,
Tho’ the kisses are many
That colour the night,
They are linkèd like pearls
On one golden thread.
For the red of your mouth;
The ages for flight
Of the butterfly years;
The sweet of the peach
For the pale lips of drouth,
The sunlight of smiles
For the shadow of tears?
That has pierced them with bliss!
All their hues are but notes
In one world-wide tune:
Lips, willows and waves,
We are one as we kiss,
And your face and the flowers
Faint away in the moon.