“Apples of HesperidesGlinting golden through the trees,Apples of Hesperides!Through the moon-pierced warp of nightShoot pale shafts of yellow light,Swaying to the kissing breezeSwings the treasure, golden-gleaming,Apples of Hesperides!.Far and lofty yet they glimmer,Apples of Hesperides!Blinded by their radiant shimmer,Pushing forward just for these;Dew-besprinkled, bramble-marred,Poor duped mortal, travel-scarred,Always thinking soon to seizeAnd possess the golden-glisteningApples of Hesperides!.Orbed, and glittering, and pendent,Apples of Hesperides!Not one missing, still transcendent,Clustering like a swarm of bees.Yielding to no man’s desire,Glowing with a saffron fire,Splendid, unassailed, the goldenApples of Hesperides!”

“Venus TransiensTell me, Was Venus more beautiful Than you are, When she topped The crinkled waves, Drifting shoreward On her plaited shell? Was Botticelli’s vision Fairer than mine; And were the painted rosebuds He tossed his lady Of better worth Than the words I blow about you To cover your too great loveliness As with a gauze Of misted silver? For me, You stand poised In the blue and buoyant air, Cinctured by bright winds, Treading the sunlight. And the waves which precede you Ripple and stir The sands at my feet.”

“A black cat among roses,phlox, lilac-misted under a quarter moon,the sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock. The garden is very still.It is dazed with moonlight,contented with perfume…”

“You are ice and fire The touch of you burns my hands like snow”

“For books are more than books, they are the lifeThe very heart and core of ages past,The reason why men lived and worked and died,The essence and quintessence of their lives.”

“I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart againstThe want of you;Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,And posting it.”