Arthur Symons

"I heard the sighing of the reeds At noontide and at evening, And some old dream I had forgotten I seemed to be remembering."

"My life is like a music-hall, Where, in the impotence of rage, Chained by enchantment to my stall, I see myself upon the stage Dance to amuse a music-hall."

"The gipsy tents are on the down, The gipsy girls are here; And its O to be off and away from the town With a gipsy for my dear!"

"What we ask of him is, that he should find out for us more than we can find out for ourselves.... He must have the passion of a lover."

"I have loved colours, and not flowers; Their motion, not the swallows wings; And wasted more than half my hours Without the comradeship of things."

"My soul is like this cloudy, flaming opal ring."

"Here in a little lonely room I am master of earth and sea, And the planets come to me."

"He knew that the whole mystery of beauty can never be comprehended by the crowd, and that while clearness is a virtue of style, perfect explicitness is not a necessary virtue."

"Without charm there can be no fine literature, as there can be no perfect flower without fragrance."

"Sweet, can I sing you the song of your kisses? How soft is this one, how subtle this is, How fluttering swift as a birds kiss that is, As a bird that taps at a leafy lattice; How this one clings and how that uncloses From bud to flower in the way of roses."

"All art is a form of artifice.For in art there can be no prejudices."

"And I would have, now love is over, An end to all, an end: I cannot, having been your lover, Stoop to become your friend!"