Erotica/Oh Love, my Love, I love you so

by Arthur Clark Kennedy

Oh Love, my Love, I love you so

Like petals shaken from a roseBeneath the noontide heat,So fell her loving words on himWhere he knelt at her feet,In tender accents, sweet and low,"Oh Love, my Love, I love you so!

"I love you, love me, or I die,Fainting beneath Love's fireWhich burns my very life-blood blackBy breath of my desire.Kiss these my bosoms white as snow,And quench their flame's devouring glow.

"Freely I yield myself to you,Throne you my King, my Lord,Your smile a crown of light to me,Your frown a very sword.Oh Love, my Love, I love you so,Your silence strikes me as a blow."

Then he replied with heart too fullFor any sudden speech,By holding up his arms to her,And as each clung to each,Mixed with the fountain's murmurous flowI heard "Oh Love, I love you so!"

That long kiss sanctified a year,A month, a week, a day.Perhaps 'twas but an hour, who knows?Time stays for such as they.Love counts not time, but this I know,'Twas very, very long ago.