A Song

Ive a kiss from a warmer lover     Than maiden earth can be:     She blew it up to the skies above her,     And now it has come to me;     From the far-away it has come today     With a breath of the old salt sea.     She lay and laughed on a lazy billow,     Far away on the deep,     Who had gathered the froth for my ladys pillow     Gathered a sparkling heap;     And the oceans cry was the lullaby     That cradled my love to sleep.     Far away on the blue Pacific     There doth my lady roam,     That is oft-times gay, but as oft terrific:     Her jewels are beads of foam:     In a coral cave, where a blue-green wave     Keeps guard, is my ladys home.     She claps her hands, and her henchman hurries     West of the sunset sheen:     Tis he who comes when a mist-wrack scurries,     Skirting the deep ravine;     And my heart is stirred by the loving word     He carries me from my queen.     A drop distilled from a lotos flower     That is the magic key     To unlock the cage, and my soul has power     To gather itself and flee,     At my loves behest, where she waits her guest     In a palace beneath the sea.     Joy is ours that is almost anguish:     Pain that is almost sweet:     We kiss; and the ocean creatures languish     Jealously at our feet;     The sight grows dim, and the senses swim     When I and my lady greet.     There to dream, while the soul is swooning     Under a woven spell     Hushed to sleep by her tender crooning     Learnt from the ocean swell     There to rest on her jewelled breast,     To love and be loved as well!