The Collected Poems of Dora Sigerson Shorter/What Will You Give?

by Dora Sigerson Shorter

WHAT WILL YOU GIVE?

What will you give me, if I will wed?
“A golden gown
To come sweetly down,
And deck you from foot to head.”

How will you keep me, if I am cold?
“By a heart so warm.
The bravest storm
Dare not force through my strong hands' hold.”

How will you please me, if I should thirst?
“Why by the rape
Of the purple grape,
Which the summer and sun have nursed.”

If I should hunger what may I eat?
“For you the skies
The falcon flies.
And the hounds on the stag are fleet.”

How can you comfort when fair youth dies,
When the spirit's fain
For a purer gain.
Than the satisfied flesh supplies?

“But this I promise, when starved and cold
A lonely soul
Finds for its goal
A six-foot bed and churchyard mould.”