love poem

They that for freedom feel not love but lust,
Irreverent, knowing not her spiritual claim,
And they, the votaries blind of windy fame.
And they who cry, " I will because I must " ;
They too that launch, screened by her shield august,
A bandit's shaft, some private mark their aim;
And they that make her sacred cause their game,
From restlessness or spleen or sheer disgust
At duteous days — all these, the brood of night,
Diverse, by one black note detected stand,
Their scorn of every barrier raised by right

FOR A FIGURE REPRESENTING THE GOD OF LOVE .

Whoe'er thou art, thy lord and master see;
Thou wast my slave, thou art, or thou shalt be.

The heart that throbbed at Glory's voice
And followed in her train,
Although in sloth it slumbers long,
May wake to life again.
But ah! when once true love has bloomed,
As many a heart can prove,
The fragrance wasted ne'er returns —
'T is only once we love.

I tread the sunny paths of life,
'Mid beauty's proud array,
But the spell that lent a charm to all
Has mist-like passed away.
No more the thrill from mingled pulse
The eloquent low sigh,
Nor the unbidden tear of joy

The air is soft and balmy,
And the moon shines clear and bright,
So throw your lattice wide, Ladie,
And bless my eyes to-night.
No smoothly polished lay I sing
Like courtly chevalier,
Yet let the soldier's tale of love
Fall sweetly on your ear.

I come from far countree,
From the land of tropic sun,
Where fame, and wreaths of laurel
And glorious names are won;
Where the dews of night fall harmlessly
On the saber's polished side
As the dews of Time but strengthen
My soul's love for its bride.

There beat a young heart which had never known love,
'T was as fresh as the bloom of the red summer rose,
Till the merry God smiled from the regions above,
And launched a bright arrow, that broke its repose.

He launched a bright arrow, that broke its repose.
When the fairy-like maiden was smiling in sleep;
The wound was a-bleeding, when just as love rose,
Old Time chanced along on his pinions to sweep:

Old Time chanced along on his pinions to sweep,
And on the new wound that the arrow had made,

Do salmons love a lucid stream?
Do thirsty sheep love fountains?
Do Druids love a doleful theme?
Or goats the craggy mountains?

If it be true these things are so,
As truly she's my lovey,
And os wit I yng carie I,
Rool fit dwyn de girie di,
As ein, dai, tree, pedwar, pimp, chweck go

LOVING AT FIRST SIGHT

I.

No warning of th' approaching flame,
Swiftly like sudden death it came:
Like travellers by lightning kill'd,
I burnt the moment I beheld.

II.

In whom so many charms are plac'd,
Is with a mind as nobly grac'd;
The case, so shining to behold,
Is fill'd with richest gems and gold.

III.

To what my eyes admir'd before
I add a thousand graces more,
And Fancy blows into a flame
The spark that from her beauty came.

I.

Let earthly minds feed on a dream,
And make an empty sound their theme,
Jesus shall dwell upon my tongue,
His dying love shall be my song.

II.

His name deserves my heart and voice,
This is the name makes me rejoice,
Nor dare I boast another name,
Therefore this Christ shall be my theme.

III.

Was I to speak of joys above,
This Jesus is their sea of love;
Or if I tell of joys below,
This Christ is all the soul can know.

IV.

I.

Down from the glorious realm above
Descends the Saviour cloth'd with love;
Assumes a body (can it be!)
To bleed and suffer death for me.

II.

Freely he spent his life and breath
To save me from eternal death;
And when no helper I could see
Made known his dying love to me.

III.

He took me from the jaws of hell,
And told my soul that all was well;
His love so great, his grace so free,
He said he spilt his blood for me.

IV.

O love amazing! boundless grace!

Loving you so, how could I know
That I should ever grow
To love you more? And ever more, and more;
So that the love I had before,
And thought so great, seems almost naught.
Brightly, yet strangely wrought
Was that old love-attire:
Woven out of desire, out of clouds and fire.

But this is a new way of loving you;
This, night and day, tranquilly, gay;
Not as lovers do who are yet two,
For now I am part of you;
You are not separate from me;
Now we have come to be
One piece of life; move indivisibly.