Love

Speechless

by Philip Bourke Marston 1850–1887

From Song-Tide (1871)

Love

Their lips upon each other's lips are laid;
Strong moans of joy, wild laughter, and short cries
Seem uttered in the passion of their eyes.
He sees her body fair, and fallen head,
And she the face whereon her soul is fed;
And by the way her white breasts sink and rise,
He knows she must be shaken by sweet sighs;
Though all delight of sound for them be dead.

They dance a strange, weird measure, who know not
The tune to which their dancing feet are led;
Their breath in kissing is made doubly hot
With flame of pent-up speech; strange light is shed
About their spirits, as they mix and meet
In passion-lighted silence, 'tranced and sweet.

MLA

Marston, Philip Bourke. “Speechless.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/marston_pb/88/.

Chicago

Marston, Philip Bourke. “Speechless.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/marston_pb/88/.

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