Her lips were a red peril
To set men quivering
And in her feet there lived the ache
And the green lilt of Spring.
'Twas on a night of red blossoms,
Oh, she was a wild wine!
The colour of all the hours
Lie in this heart of mine.
I was impelled by the white moon
And the deep eyes of the Spring,
And the voices of purple flutes
Waltzing and wavering.
Of all the bloom most delicate
Sipping the gold air
Was a round girl with round arms,
The Girl with the Black Hair.
Her breath was the breath of roses,
White roses clean and clear,
Her eyes were blue as the high heavens
Where God is always near.
Her lips were a red peril
To set men quivering
And in her feet there lived the ache
And the green lilt of Spring.
First published in The Bookfellow, 15 December 1913;
and later in
Poems by John Shaw Neilson, 1964;
Australian Letters, 4 September 1964;
Green Days and Cherries: the early verses of Shaw Neilson edited by Hugh Anderson and Leslie James Blake, 1981;
John Shaw Neilson: Poetry, Autobiography and Correspondence edited by Cliff Hanna, 1991;
Selected Poems edited by Robert Gray, 1993; and
Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore and Elizabeth Webby, 2009.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
To set men quivering
And in her feet there lived the ache
And the green lilt of Spring.
'Twas on a night of red blossoms,
Oh, she was a wild wine!
The colour of all the hours
Lie in this heart of mine.
I was impelled by the white moon
And the deep eyes of the Spring,
And the voices of purple flutes
Waltzing and wavering.
Of all the bloom most delicate
Sipping the gold air
Was a round girl with round arms,
The Girl with the Black Hair.
Her breath was the breath of roses,
White roses clean and clear,
Her eyes were blue as the high heavens
Where God is always near.
Her lips were a red peril
To set men quivering
And in her feet there lived the ache
And the green lilt of Spring.
First published in The Bookfellow, 15 December 1913;
and later in
Poems by John Shaw Neilson, 1964;
Australian Letters, 4 September 1964;
Green Days and Cherries: the early verses of Shaw Neilson edited by Hugh Anderson and Leslie James Blake, 1981;
John Shaw Neilson: Poetry, Autobiography and Correspondence edited by Cliff Hanna, 1991;
Selected Poems edited by Robert Gray, 1993; and
Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Anita Heiss, David McCooey, Peter Minter, Nicole Moore and Elizabeth Webby, 2009.
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
