- A QUESTION
WHAT do I want of you? You fill
The air about me with delight.
A power stronger than my will
Draws me towards you day and night.
And yet I do not ask to press
Even your hand in a caress.
Your presence vague and nebulous
Moves with me as I cross the street;
Your sweetness like an angelus
Makes holy ground beneath my feet.
In every lovely form I pass
You shape yourself as in a glass.
What do I want of you? I see
Your other lovers pine to drain
The passion of your ecstasy
In kisses desperate as rain,
And yet, although I am not blind,
Not to that harbour steers my mind.
What do I want of you? God knows!
I only know it is too high,
Too rare a venture to disclose,
Save to the vast and starless sky.
Nothing I want, yet when we meet,
I think the world hears my heart beat.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1924.
The author died in 1963, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.