Back to Index

Madonna Mia

by Oscar Wilde, 1881

A LILY-GIRL, not made for this world’s pain,
   With brown, soft hair close braided by her ears,
   And longing eyes half veiled by slumberous tears
 Like bluest water seen through mists of rain:
 Pale cheeks whereon no love hath left its stain,
   Red underlip drawn in for fear of love,
   And white throat, whiter than the silvered dove,
 Through whose wan marble creeps one purple vein.
 Yet, though my lips shall praise her without cease,
   Even to kiss her feet I am not bold,
   Being o’ershadowed by the wings of awe.
 Like Dante, when he stood with Beatrice
   Beneath the flaming Lion’s breast, and saw
   The seventh Crystal, and the Stair of Gold.

Published in Poems
Tags:

Any corrections or public domain poems I should have here? Email me at poems (at) this domain.