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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PERFUME by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE

First Line: WHAT GIFT FOR PASSIONATE LOVERS SHALL WE FIND?
Last Line: HIS THOUGHTS AND FANCIES MINGLED WITH PERFUME.
Subject(s): LOVE; PERFUME;

WHAT gift for passionate lovers shall we find?
Not flowers nor books of verse suffice for me,
Nor splinters of the odorous cedar-tree,
And tufts of pine-buds, oozy in the wind;
Give me young shoots of aromatic rind,
Or samphire, redolent of sand and sea,
For all such fragrances I deem to be
Fit with my sharp desire to be combined.
My heart is like a poet, whose one room,
Scented with Latakia faint and fine,
Dried rose-leaves, and split attar, and old wine,
From curtained windows gathers its warm gloom
Round all but one sweet picture where incline
His thoughts and fancies mingled with perfume.



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