To a Silent Girl
Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant 1864 (Bridgwater, Somerset) – 1902 (Pretoria)
When the sklll'd fashioner of female faces
Designed your mask, he wrought with cunning fist,
And made a mouth expressly to be kiss'd -
Not for shrill utterance nor pert grimaces.
The curved, ripe lips-above the rounded chin -
He dyed the hue of summer's reddest rose,
Then placed a smile upon them to disclose
A glimpse of white and even pearls within.
Those lips are silent, sweetheart! - but your eyes
Are eloquent, and they love's lesson teach
Better than other woman's aptest speech -
In their soft light the tend'rest language lies.
In womankind - the world has long confess'd -
A silent mouth and speaking eyes are best.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 121 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAAX BCCB DEED FF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 633 |
Words | 113 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 2 |
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"To a Silent Girl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/16976/to-a-silent-girl>.
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