The Coral Queen

I 

Oh Lady fine,

You have enchanted mine eye, 

You have washed me with wine; 

You have me for life bound in sigh. 

Lady mine,

I gaze on thy neck wry, 

Your parted lips carmine,

And wonder I; 

Whether tis truth, I spy,

Or whether it’s but dream lie.

Oh Lady fine, 

Specter of a dream marine.

Were you truly only of fairy air 

The sprites could not add to your beauty fair. 

Methinks you must be of light, 

Of nacre pearl and marine rite.

 I shall dance, 

This night and into the dawn's light.  

I shall dance to the sound of chance;

As the dawn kills the night in kisses white. 

So shall I shall dance, in the light of delight.

Above me now orbit the planets round, 

Dancing with fate in the court of stars. 

The moon in mirror waters is crowned- 

As Venus holds the heart of Mars. 

I shall dance forever in delight, 

Til the dawn kills the sapphire night. 

I shall dance, as the dawn is in advance;

And from between prance 

 I shall steal a glance.

To see you bathe in the waters dyed.  

I shall be drawn; to your orbit tied. 

To the waters stained of dawn, 

Of red and coral drawn.

Chained I am to your sight;

To your beauty I must write.

Where I but king 

From my hands would pour all gold.

To you all treasures I would bring;

Every luxury made tenfold. 

I am not king, but a poet low 

With nothing but my verse bold.

Oh I am king of woe- 

If I cannot your lips against mine hold. 

I shall not rest 

Til every verse to you is told. 

I shall not rest 

Until my verses match gold.

Kiss me queen,

Where my verses spring forth- 

These daring lips oscine; 

Devoted to you henceforth.

Kiss me queen, 

With colors so heavenly,

Where the coral met the dawn marine

And kissed her serenely.

Kiss me queen, 

With your red sheen. 

For you I write my poetry; 

To adorn you as jewelry. 

II 

AND YOUR HAIR,

Is adorned in gems fair, 

And perfumed of salted air,

With grace condemning me to stare.

AND YOUR EYES, 

Turquoise and green 

Make my heart capsize. 

Queen of queens: Lady Undine. 

AND YOUR LIPS, 

Are divine gifts 

holding the treasure of ships. 

Beckoning them to cliffs. 

AND YOUR NECK, 

Is the soft coral rock, 

Pulling me to a wreck 

Over lines of pale chalk.

 AND YOUR BREASTS, 

Heave with the tidal breath.

And you draw me in rests,

And you free me in crests. 

III

Queen of Coral, 

With your colors so floral, wave over wave

Became enchanted by your spell.

  Each wave reverence gave

Rose and fell to see you belle.

Bluer and bluer they swelled- 

Til they burst out in stave

And harmony and melody gave.

 So the ocean crowned you auroral;

Eternal queen of coral. 

The chorus of lover waves

Resonates through grottos and caves. 

Above, the Zephir sings hymns in sateen.

And whistles with want to be noticed and seen.

These adversaries clever be, 

In hymns and melodies pleasing thee. 

To offer Orpheus’s gift oscine and cancrine

To enchant you my queen.

Oh were you but sylph  

My verses could stay in ink; 

And by doves be carried over yonder cliff,

Flying my verse like couriers through the dawn pink. 

But you are queen marine; 

And thus my verse would have to sink.

Under waves to your glance unseen. 

Methinks I must my verse to a ruby link,

And condemn it to sink towards thine lips. 

Casting my sighs into the marine eclipse,

I shall with my rubies adorn a nacre wreath

And at last my verse to you bequeath. 

To turn my verse into rubies 

I would renounce all other beauties. 

For you, I forsake the sky above; 

So as to devote this crude ode 

 to your soft breasts carved of love.

Those opals of marine abode,  

Resplendent of aubade and sun glow.

Thus beauty of the pearléd glove,

These inked verses will be of paper robbed- 

And turned to ruby for being loved. 

And to adorn you shall be my duty of duties-

And your crown shall be my rubies.