Love

Rondel (Kissing her hair I sat against her feet)

by Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837–1909

From Victorian Songs (1895)

Love

Kissing her hair I sat against her feet,
Wove and unwove it, wound and found it sweet;
Made fast therewith her hands, drew down her eyes,
Deep as deep flowers and dreamy like dim skies;
With her own tresses bound and found her fair,
Kissing her hair.

Sleep were no sweeter than her face to me,
Sleep of cold sea-bloom under the cold sea;
What pain could get between my face and hers?
What new sweet thing would love not relish worse?
Unless, perhaps, white death had kissed me there,
Kissing her hair?

MLA

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “Rondel (Kissing her hair I sat against her feet).” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/680/.

Chicago

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. “Rondel (Kissing her hair I sat against her feet).” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/swinburne/680/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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