"Fan Me With These Lilies Fair"

By Elizabeth Stoddard

Fan me with these lilies fair,
Twine their stems around your arm:
Put your feet upon these roses,
Then you'll please me to a charm.

Charm me with your violet eyes,
Kneel, and with your sweet lips meet
The flaming buds of mine, athirst
In the roses at your feet!

Leave the lilies on the lake,
Do not break its pale repose
Tear your heart with cruel thorns,
Such as grow beneath the rose.

So you love me? You are mine?
Break from yon dead tree a bough,
Lay it down among these roses --
Ah! I do not charm you now!