POEMS OF PLEASURE [Illustration: Ella Wheeler Wilcox; signature and portrait] POEMS OF PLEASURE. BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. AUTHOR OF “POEMS OF PASSION.” “MAURINE.” “MAL MOULEE” ETC. CHICAGO: W. B. CONKEY COMPANY. 1897. 1888. Copyright By BELFORD CLARKE & CO. 1892. Copyright By MORRILL, HIGGINS & CO. All rights reserved. 1893. Copyright By W. B. CONKEY COMPANY. CONTENTS. PAGE. Part I. Passional 7 Part II. Philosophical 51 Part III. Miscellaneous 91 PASSIONAL. POEMS OF PLEASURE. SURRENDER. Love, when we met, ’twas like two planets meeting. Strange chaos followed; body, soul, and heart Seemed shaken, thrilled, and startled by that greeting. Old ties, old dreams, old aims, all torn apart And wrenched away, left nothing there the while But the great shining glory of your smile. I knew no past; ’twas all a blurred, bleak waste; I asked no future; ’twas a blinding glare. I only saw the present: as men taste Some stimulating wine, and lose all care, I tasted Love’s elixir, and I seemed Dwelling in some strange land, like one who dreamed. It was a godlike separate existence; Our world was set apart in some fair clime. I had no will, no purpose, no resistance; I only knew I loved you for all time. The earth seemed something foreign and afar, And we two, sovereigns dwelling in a star! It is so sad, so strange, I almost doubt That all those years could be, before we met. Do you not wish that we could blot them out? Obliterate them wholly, and forget That we had any part in life until We clasped each other with Love’s rapture thrill? My being trembled to its very center At that first kiss. Cold Reason stood aside With folded arms to let a grand Love enter In my Soul’s secret chamber to abide. Its great High Priest, my first love and my last, There on its altar I consumed my past. And all my life I lay upon its shrine The best emotions of my heart and brain, Whatever gifts and graces may be mine; No secret thought, no memory I retain, But give them all for dear Love’s precious sake; Complete surrender of the whole I make. THE BIRTH OF THE OPAL.