350 But delicately sighs in musk The homage of the dim boudoir;
Or like a palpitating star
Thrilled into song, the opera-night
Breathes faint in the quick pulse of light;
355 Or at the carriage-window shine Rich wares for choice; or, free to dine,
Whirls through its hour of health (divine
For her) the concourse of the Park.
And though in the discounted dark
360 Her functions there and here are one,
Beneath the lamps and in the sun
There reigns at least the acknowledged belle
Apparelled beyond parallel.
Ah Jenny, yes, we know your dreams.
365
For even the Paphian8 Venus seems
A goddess o'er the realms of love,
When silver-shrined in shadowy grove:
Aye, or let offerings nicely plac'd
8. Of Paphos, a city on Cyprus that was the site of a famous temple of Aphrodite (the Roman Venus). Also, a term for prostitute.
.
THE HOUSE OF LIFE / 1457
But hide Priapus9 to the waist,
370 And whoso looks on him shall see
An eligible deity. Why, Jenny, waking here alone
May help you to remember one,
Though all the memory's long outworn
375 Of many a double-pillowed morn.
I think I see you when you wake,
And rub your eyes for me, and shake
My gold, in rising, from your hair,
A Danae1 for a moment there. aso Jenny, my love rang true! for still
Love at first sight is vague, until
That tinkling makes him audible. And must I mock you to the last,
Ashamed of my own shame,?aghast
385 Because some thoughts not born amiss
Rose at a poor fair face like this?
Well, of such thoughts so much I know:
In my life, as in hers, they show,
By a far gleam which I may near,
390 A dark path I can strive to clear. Only one kiss. Good-bye, my dear. 1848 1870
From The House of Life
The Sonnet
A Sonnet is a moment's monument?
Memorial from the Soul's eternity
To one dead deathless hour. Look that it be,
Whether for lustral0 rite or dire portent, purificatory5 Of its own arduous fullness reverent;
Carve it in ivory or in ebony,
As Day or Night may rule; and let Time see
Its flowering crest impearled and orient. A Sonnet is a coin; its face reveals
