O here is my left hand and here is my right hand,
And I on myself cast up as on a desert island,
In my right hand a dagger and on my left hand a ring,
And from under my feet the earth falling.
O here is my beginning, and here is my ending,
And at my bedside the armoured day standing,
Saying, Rise up, my lost one, and begone
Into reality as into a prison.
- Sylvia Townsend Warner
Claire Harman's discussion of Warner's love poetry in "The Guardian"
