Listening

She listened like a cushat dove
That listens to its mate alone:
She listened like a cushat dove
That loves but only one.

Not fair as men would reckon fair,
Nor noble as they count the line:
Only as graceful as a bough,
And tendrils of the vine:
Only as noble as sweet Eve
Your ancestress and mine.

And downcast were her dovelike eyes,
And downcast was her tender cheek;
Her pulses fluttered like a dove
To hear him speak.

~Christina Rossetti

Submitted by Jenni

“It reminded me of, well, just the whole crazy Andrew experience. And the dove imagery was just too much to ignore.”

Poetry Book