Classic Poem

Courage in Love

My eyes with floods of tears o'erflow,
My bosom heaves with constant woe;
Those eyes which thy unkindness swells,
That bosom where thy image dwells!
How could I hope so weak a flame
Could ever warm that matchless dame,
When none Elysium must behold
Without a radiant bough of gold?
'Tis her's in spheres to shine;
At distance to admire is mine;
Doom'd like th' enamour'd youth to groan
For a new goddess form'd of stone.
While thus I spoke, Love's gentle pow'r
Descended from th' ethereal bow'r;
A quiver at his shoulder hung,
A shaft he grasp'd, and bow unstrung:
All Nature own'd the genial god,
And the spring flourish'd where he trod:
My heart, no stranger to the guest,
Flutter'd and labour'd in my breast;
When with a smile that kindles joy
E'en in the gods, began the boy:
“How vain there tears! is man decreed
“By being abject to succeed?
“Hop'st thou by meagre looks to move?
“Are women frighten'd into love?
“He most prevails who nobly dares;
“In love an hero as in wars:
“E'en Venus may be known to yield,
“But 'tis when Mars disputes the field.
“Sent from a daring hand my dart,
“Strikes deep into the fair one's heart.
“To winds and waves thy cares bequeath;
“A sigh is but a waste of breath.
“What tho' gay youth and ev'ry grace
“That beauty boasts adorn her face?
“Yet goddesses have deign'd to wed,
“And take a mortal to their bed;
“And heaven, when gifts of incense rise,
“Accepts it, tho' it cloud their skies.
“Mark how this marygold conceals
“Her beauty, and her bosom viels;
“How from the dull embrace she flies
“Of Phœbus, when, his beams arise,
“But when his glory he displays,
“And darts around his fiercer rays,
“Her charms she opens, and receives
“The vig'rous god into her leaves.”Englishlove poemlove poemslove poems for herlove poetrypoems about loveromantic poems