I LOVE YOU

I LOVE your lips when they're wet with wine
And red with a wild desire;
I love your eyes when the lovelight lies
Lit with a passionate fire.
I love your arms when the warm white flesh
Touches mine in a fond embrace;
I love your hair when the strands enmesh
Your kisses against my face.

Not for me the cold, calm kiss
Of a virgin's bloodless love;
Not for me the saint's white bliss,
Nor the heart of a spotless dove.
But give me the love that so feely gives
And laughs at the whole world's blame,
With your body so young and warm in my arms,
It sets my poor heart aflame.

So kiss me sweet with your warm wet mouth,
Still fragrant with ruby wine,
And say with a fervor born of the South
That your body and soul are mine.
Clasp me close in your warm young arms,
While the pale stars shine above,
And we'll live our whole young lives away
In the joys of a living love.

--Ella Wheeler Wilcox

HER ANSWER

TODAY, dear heart, but just today,
The sunshine over all,
The roses crimsoning the air
Along the garden wall!
Then let the dream and dreamer die
Whate'er shall be, shall be-
Today will still be thine and mine
To all eternity.

And oh, there is no glory, dear,
When all the world is done;
There is no splendor lasteth out
The sinking of the sun;
There is not thing that lasts, not one,
When we have turned to clay,
But this, you loved me-all the rest
Fades with the world away.

So little while, so little while,
This world shall last for us:
This is no way to keep it, dear,
But just to spend it thus:
There is no hand may stop the sand
From flowing fast away,
But his who turns the whole glass down
And dreams 'tis all today!

--John Bennett