Beauty's Danger

Beauty's Danger written by William Henry Davies

Nature Poems (1908)

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How can she safely walk this earth,
And not be robbed of all her worth,
By bulls and bees that may catch sight
Of her lips waving their red light.
Birds could make bedding of her hair,
And her ripe lips could tempt wasps there;
If Summer's moths should see her eyes,
They'd drop on them, and never rise,
But, filled at once with mad desire,
Would soon put out those lamps of fire,
With their lives sacrificed : no gem
Shines on Night's ebon breast like them.
Even the hawk a foe might prove,
To see her bosom in a move;
And thinking there she hid young mice,
Or birds, that would not sleep in peace.
For never doth that bosom rest;
If she doth hold her breath, there must
Follow a storm; the only boat
'That ever on that sea did float
Is this blessed hand of mine : when I
As helpless as a boat must lie -
When seamaids' music makes the Breeze
Drop on the sails and sleep. O she's
An everlasting spring, that flows
When all my other springs do close.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.