Alfred, "Eccentric" Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

From "The Princess" 1847

Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The fire-fly wakens: waken thou with me.

Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.

Now lies the earth all Danaë* to the stars,           *character in Greek myth seduced by
And all thy heart lies open unto me.                   Zeus, who came to her in the form of
                                                       a shower of gold
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.

Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake:
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.

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