Her eyes, twin pools so dark and deep,
    In which life’s ancient mysteries sleep;
    Wherein, to seek the quested goal,
    A man might plunge, and lose his soul.

THE AWAKENING

    I dreamed that I was a rose
    That grew beside a lonely way,
    Close by a path none ever chose,
    And there I lingered day by day. 
    Beneath the sunshine and the show’r
    I grew and waited there apart,
    Gathering perfume hour by hour,
    And storing it within my heart,
      Yet, never knew,
    Just why I waited there and grew.

    I dreamed that you were a bee
    That one day gaily flew along,
    You came across the hedge to me,
    And sang a soft, love-burdened song. 
    You brushed my petals with a kiss,
    I woke to gladness with a start,
    And yielded up to you in bliss
    The treasured fragrance of my heart;
      And then I knew
    That I had waited there for you.

BEAUTY THAT IS NEVER OLD

    When buffeted and beaten by life’s storms,
    When by the bitter cares of life oppressed,
    I want no surer haven than your arms,
    I want no sweeter heaven than your breast.

    When over my life’s way there falls the blight
    Of sunless days, and nights of starless skies;
    Enough for me, the calm and steadfast light
    That softly shines within your loving eyes.

    The world, for me, and all the world can hold
    Is circled by your arms; for me there lies,
    Within the lights and shadows of your eyes,
    The only beauty that is never old.

VENUS IN A GARDEN

    ’Twas at early morning,
    The dawn was blushing in her purple bed,
    When in a sweet, embowered garden
    She, the fairest of the goddesses,
    The lovely Venus,
    Roamed amongst the roses white and red. 
    She sought for flowers
    To make a garland
    For her golden head.

    Snow-white roses, blood-red roses,
    In that sweet garden close,
    Offered incense to the goddess: 
    Both the white and the crimson rose.

    White roses, red roses, blossoming: 
    But the fair Venus knew
    The crimson roses had gained their hue
    From the hearts that for love had bled;
    And the goddess made a garland
    Gathered from the roses red.

VASHTI

    I sometimes take you in my dreams to a far-off land I used to know,
    Back in the ages long ago; a land of palms and languid streams.

    A land, by night, of jeweled skies, by day, of shores that glistened bright,
    Within whose arms, outstretched and white, a sapphire sea lay crescent-wise.

    Where twilight fell like silver floss, where rose the golden moon half-hid
    Behind a shadowy pyramid; a land beneath the Southern Cross.