by James Joyce (1882 - 1941)
Of cool sweet dew and radiance mild
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Language: English
Of cool sweet dew and radiance mild The moon a web of silence weaves In the still garden where a child Gathers the simple salad leaves. A moondew stars her hanging hair And moonlight kisses her young brow And, gathering she sings an air: Fair as the wave is, fair art thou! Be mine, I pray, a waxen ear To shield me from her childish croon, And mine a shielded heart for her Who gathers simples of the moon.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesFirst published in Poetry, May 1917. The text is preceded by the following epigraph: "O bella bionda!/ Sei come l'onda!" Note for stanza 2, line 2: word 3 is "touches" in some editions.
Text Authorship:
- by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), "Simples", appears in Pomes Penyeach, no. 7, first published 1917 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 80