Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
Youth and MaidenhoodSarah Williams (18371868)
L
Laid upon her soft and rosy palm,
Turn’d whichever way her hand doth turn,
Trembling in an ecstasy of calm.
Held within her close and burning clasp,
Breathing only dying sweetness out,
Withering beneath the fatal grasp.
Growing into beauty near the sun,
Gaining rainbow hues in her embrace,
Melting into tears when it is done.
Dumb without the hand that sweeps its strings;
Tho’ the hand be careless or be cruel,
When it comes my heart breaks forth and sings.