Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CARMIA, by ALICE CARY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARMIA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: My carmia, my life, my saint
Last Line: And that is all-and-all!
Subject(s): Love


MY Carmia, my life, my saint,
No flower is sweet enough to paint
Thy sweet, sweet face for me!
The rose-leaf nails, the slender wrist,
The hand, the whitest ever kissed --
Dear Carmia, what has Raphael missed
In never seeing thee!

Oh to be back among the days
Wherein she blessed me with her praise --
She knew not how to frown!
The memory of that time doth seem
Like dreaming of a lovely dream,
Or like a golden broider-seam
Stitched in some homely gown.

No silken skein is half so soft
As those long locks I combed so oft --
No tender tearful skies --
No violet darkling into jet --
And all with daybreak dew-drops wet --
No star, when first the sun is set,
Is like my Carmia's eyes.

But not the dainty little wrist,
Nor hand, the whitest ever kissed,
Nor face, so sweet to see,
Nor words of praise, that so did bless,
Nor rose-leaf nail, nor silken tress,
Made her so dear to me.

'T was nothing my poor words can tell,
Nor charm of chance, nor magic spell
To wane, and waste, and fall --
I loved her to the utmost strain
Of heart and soul and mind and brain,
And Carmia loved me back again,
And that is all-and-all!





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