Nature

A Harmony

by Oscar Wilde 1854–1900

From Poems, with The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Nature

HER ivory hands on the ivory keys
Strayed in a fitful fantasy,
Like the silver gleam when the poplar trees
Rustle their pale-leaves listlessly,
Or the drifting foam of a restless sea
When the waves show their teeth in the flying breeze.

Her gold hair fell on the wall of gold
Like the delicate gossamer tangles spun
On the burnished disk of the marigold,
Or the sunflower turning to meet the sun
When the gloom of the dark blue night is done,
And the spear of the lily is aureoled.

And her sweet red lips on these lips of mine
Burned like the ruby fire set
In the swinging lamp of a crimson shrine,
Or the bleeding wounds of the pomegranate,
Or the heart of the lotus drenched and wet
With the spilt-out blood of the rose-red wine.

MLA

Wilde, Oscar. “A Harmony.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wilde/21/.

Chicago

Wilde, Oscar. “A Harmony.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wilde/21/.

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