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| Poetry by women |
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| Golden bead of
gold bead Like two pigeons in one nest Folded in each other's wings, They lay down in their curtained bed. Cheek to cheek and breast to breast Locked together in one nest. Did you miss me ? Come and kiss me, Never mind my bruises, Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices, Squeezed from goblin fruits for you, Goblin pulp and goblin dew Eat me, drink me, love me; Laura, make much of me. Christina Rossetti 'Goblin Market', 1959 |
| This bed on
which I let my mouth wander, is still warm and crumpled by the length of her body Pierre Louys 'The Songs of Bilitis', 1894 |
| The Woman I
Adore Dante Alighieri The woman I adore carries ecstatic love in her eyes. Whatever she looks at grows less worldly. When she walks past, each man turns to look at her; And if she notices him, his chest trembles. And then, his eyes on the ground, he turns pale; He can feel his inadequacies inside his heart. Self-absorption and self-mothering leave ahead of her; All you women, help me to say this rightly. When a man hears her voice, sweetness and thoughts Of ways to serve others come into his body. I say then, much praise to the first man who glimpsed her. And when she smiles, for even a short time, there is a feeling Of someone I cannot speak of, nor keep in remembrance. This is all some sort of miracle, fresh, amazing. |
| No
Obligation Come on the wings of great desire, Or stay away from me. You're not more stable than the day, Or than the day less free. The dawning day has clouds in store; Desire her cloudy moods; And sunlit woods of morning may By noon be darkened woods. So be you free to come or stay Without a reason given, As free as clouds that blot the light Across the face of heaven. --Vita Sackville-West |
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