The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke






Libido

   How should I know?  The enormous wheels of will
    Drove me cold-eyed on tired and sleepless feet.
   Night was void arms and you a phantom still,
    And day your far light swaying down the street.
   As never fool for love, I starved for you;
    My throat was dry and my eyes hot to see.
   Your mouth so lying was most heaven in view,
    And your remembered smell most agony.

   Love wakens love!  I felt your hot wrist shiver
    And suddenly the mad victory I planned
     Flashed real, in your burning bending head. . . .
   My conqueror's blood was cool as a deep river
    In shadow; and my heart beneath your hand
     Quieter than a dead man on a bed.

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