quote · Legacy record
Sweet dimness of her loosened hair’s downfall About thy face; her sweet hands round thy head In gracious fostering union garlanded; Her tremulous smiles; her glances’ sweet recall Of love; her murmuring sighs memorial; Her mouth’s culled sweetness by thy kisses shed On cheeks and neck and eyelids, and so led Back to her mouth which answers there for all:— What sweeter than these things, except the thing In lacking which all these would lose their sweet:— The confident heart’s still fervour: the swift beat And soft subsidence of the spirit’s wing, Then when it feels, in cloud-girt wayfaring, The breath of kindred plumes against its feet?
Sweet dimness of her loosened hair’s downfall About thy face; her sweet hands round thy head In gracious fostering union garlanded; Her tremulous smiles; her glances’ sweet recall Of love; her murmuring sighs memorial; Her mouth’s culled sweetness by thy kisses shed On cheeks and neck and eyelids, and so led Back to her mouth which answers there for all:— What sweeter than these things, except the thing In lacking which all these would lose their sweet:— The confident heart’s still fervour: the swift beat And soft subsidence of the spirit’s wing, Then when it feels, in cloud-girt wayfaring, The breath of kindred plumes against its feet?
In print by 1921 AD · modern
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- D. G. Rossetti (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1921 AD · modern
In print by 1921: recorded in My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- My Commonplace Book (third English edition,1921) (1921 AD)
Page 330 · printed citation: D. G. Rossetti. · compiler notes excluded
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.