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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  She Lay Quite Still

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

She Lay Quite Still

By Orrick Johns (1887–1946)
 
(1921)

SHE lay quite still when morning came,
  Her hours of sleep had been but three,
Her eyelids moved, her cheeks were flame.
 
I know her heart was not the same
  As yester-night it had to be;        5
She lay quite still when morning came.
 
They quoted her a wanton dame,
  This thing I had not thought to see …
She lay quite still when morning came.
 
The bare white thing that was her shame        10
  The morning light kissed tenderly,
Her eyelids moved, her cheeks were flame.
 
She bore so well her lived fame
  It seemed a miracle to me;…
She lay quite still when morning came.        15
 
Of all the wonders in God’s name
  No awe like this can come to me …
She lay quite still when morning came,
Her eyelids moved, her cheeks were flame.