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Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 23. Love’s Baubles

I stood where Love in brimming armfuls bore
Slight wanton flowers and foolish toys of fruit:
And round him ladies thronged in warm pursuit,
Fingered and lipped and proffered the strange store.
And from one hand the petal and the core
Savored of sleep; and cluster and curled shoot
Seemed from another hand like shame's salute,--
Gifts that I felt my cheek was blushing for.

At last Love bade my Lady give the same:
And as I looked, the dew was light thereon;
And as I took them, at her touch they shone
With inmost heaven-hue of the heart of flame.
And then Love said: "Lo! when the hand is hers,
Follies of love are love's true ministers."

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s other poems:

  1. The House of Life. Sonnet 17. Beauty’s Pageant
  2. The House of Life. Sonnet 35. The Lamp’s Shrine
  3. The House of Life. Sonnet 50. Willowwood – 2
  4. The Staff and Scrip
  5. The House of Life. Sonnet 92. The Sun’s Shame – 1

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