Back to Index

Chanson

by Oscar Wilde, 1881

A RING of gold and a milk-white dove
   Are goodly gifts for thee,
 And a hempen rope for your own love
   To hang upon a tree.

 For you a House of Ivory
   (Roses are white in the rose-bower)!
 A narrow bed for me to lie
   (White, O white, is the hemlock flower)!

 Myrtle and jessamine for you
   (O the red rose is fair to see)!
 For me the cypress and the rue
   (Fairest of all is rose-mary)!

 For you three lovers of your hand
   (Green grass where a man lies dead)!
 For me three paces on the sand
   (Plant lilies at my head)!

Published in Poems
Tags:

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