The Silken Tassel/Thy Smiles

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Thy Smiles
Thy smiles are like the sharpest blades
  That cut the hardest steel,
Thy smiles are like the softest shades
  That deepest waters seal:
Thy smiles are like the rosy flowers
  Bestrewn upon the snow;
They hold thy sweet and secret powers,
  O Maiden! thou dost know.

One smile—and I forget my thoughts
  That I could hardly gather;
One smile—I love its gentle plots
  Like sunshine in cold weather:
One smile—and all my heart leaps up
  To tangle in its meshes;
O Maiden hide thy magic cup
  That blinds all in its flashes!

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No Summer Morn can ever match
  The smile upon thy face,
No Winter Moon can ever catch
  The glory of its grace;
No rosy Eve can imitate
  Its light like laughing flowers,
No other Beauty can create
  Its rainbow-wingèd showers.

I seem to fall within thy smiles,
  A meteor in thy light!
Forbear thy heaven-inwoven wiles
  Of lips and eyes so bright!
They cut my heart or crush my mind—
  All seems without them vain;
No other Heaven on earth I find:
  Smile, Maiden! smile again!

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