Classic Poem

Though all your charms in a sweet disarray,
Chloë, have won me, you shun me as though
I were a tiger that searches for prey,
I would not hurt you, your virtue is so
Glowing that passion is melted away.

As a lost fawn, wandered far as it could,
Starts at the breezes and freezes with fear
At the least sound from the ground where it stood;
Flies and escapes from the shapes that appear
And the whispering leaves in the murmurous wood,

So you evade me, my Chloë, and you
Daily dissemble; you tremble when I,
Singing your loveliness, tell what is true;
And, should I hold you or scold you, you fly
Out of my arms, like a bird to the blue!

I seek you and capture the ghost of a scent;
Though I pursue you, I woo you in vain.
Come, nights like these for dim courtships were meant,
When Love sings, half-breathless, the deathless refrain,
When dark willows call and the night-wind is spent.