Classic Poem

" I would not care for fame,
If, as the years went by,
That light might burn the same
That now flames in thine eye.
From all the glory for which great ones care
Thou couldst entice me with a single hair.

" I would not care for truth,
If thou wouldst but be true;
One certainty, — thy youth,
Thy beauty ever new, —
To make me this the only truth declare,
Thou couldst entice me with a single hair.

" I would not care for good,
If I thy smile might see.
No man hath understood
How mighty love can be,
Unless he's felt the power of one so fair
She could entice him with a single hair.

" I would not care for heaven,
If I the years could stay,
And here at twenty-seven
Hold thee as mine alway, —
Though stood I at the gates, from even there
Thou couldst entice me with a single hair. "

O mighty love, that so
Canst fling a world aside,
When thou art wise to know
That Truth's the fairest bride,
Thou wilt her grace the only grace declare,
And let her lead thee by a single hair.