Explore "To Iris" by Edith Nesbit on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
IF I might build a palace, fair / With every joy of soul and sense, / And set my heart as sentry there / To guard your happy innocence -- / If I might plant a hedge so strong / No creeping sorrow could writhe through, / And find my whole life not too long / To give, to make your hedge for you --
If I could teach the wandering air / To bring no sounds that were not sweet, / Could teach the earth that only fair / Untrodden flower deserved your feet: / Would I not tear the secret scroll / Where all your griefs lie closely curled, / And give your little hand control / Of all the joys of all the world?