love poem

An Imitation of Anacreon.

Oft I string the Lydian Lyre,
Oft in noble Strains aspire
To sing the Glories of that Face,
Each secret Charm, each nameless Grace;
But still the disobedient Strings do move
In softest Notes, and murmur nought but Love.

Oft with witty quaint Conceit,
I vainly strive to celebrate
That, which no Colours can reveal
Which we only see, and only feel:
But still the disobedient Strings do move
In softest Notes, and murmur nought but Love.

I.

Like the rising of the sun,
Herald of bright hours to follow,
Lo! the marriage rites are done,
And begun the Mi-na-Meala .

II.

Heart to heart, and hand to hand,
Vowed 'fore God to love and cherish,
Each by each in grief to stand,
Never more apart to flourish.

III.

Now their lips, low whisp'ring, speak
Thoughts their eyes have long been saying.

As the strong sweet light of the morning,
As the strong sweet air of the sea,
As the strong sweet music of the wind among the leaves
Comes the voice of our good will to a weary world that grieves,
Crying " Be glad! Be free! "

Waste no sorrow on the days that lie behind you,
Waste no fear upon the days that rise before,
Waste no time in fierce complaining that the world is thus and so,
The world is ours my brothers, and we make it as we go
Make it more and more

Truth is shining in our souls like the morning,

You ask me why I love her,
As I love nought on earth?
Why I'll put none above her
For sorrow or for mirth?
Though there be others fairer;
In spirit, richer, rarer;
With none will I compare her,
Who is to me all worth!

I love her for her beauty,
Her force, her fire, her youth;
For kisses cold as duty
Bespeak not love, but ruth.
I love her for the treasure
Of all the rapturous pleasure
Her love gives without measure
Of passion and of truth!

I love her firm possession

TO HIS LOVE.

Sweetest, in desperate hours
Of clouds and lightning and rain,
You came like a vision of flowers
And summer and song once again:
You came, and I could not receive you,
Seared in my flesh, in my sight.
I heedlessly turned back to leave you;
We passed on into the night.
(Heart, soul and all, sweet, never to sever,
Love me for ever!)

HE

Long ago, long ago,
In a far and fairer land,
There I wandered with my true love
Hand in hand, hand in hand;
And was it earth or heaven,
Where this joy to me was given? —
Nay, I do not rightly know,
It was all so long ago.

SHE

Long ago, long ago,
Were ye children twain that went,
With no thought of any morrow,
In your souls' divine content?
While ye wandered blossom-hearted,

Shall we meet again, love,
In the distant When, love,
When the Now is Then, love,
And the Present Past?
Shall the mystic Yonder,
On which I ponder,
I sadly wonder,
With thee be cast?

Ah, the joyless fleeting
Of our primal meeting,
And the fateful greeting
Of the How and Why!
Ah, the Thingness flying
From the Hereness, sighing
For a love undying
That fain would die!

Ah, the Ifness sadd'ning,
The Whichness madd'ning,
And the But ungladd'ning,
That lie behind!

I.

This did not once so trouble me,
That better I could not love Thee;
But now I feel and know
That only when we love, we find
How far our hearts remain behind
The love they should bestow.

II.

While we had little care to call
On thee, and scarcely prayed at all,
We seemed enough to pray:
But now we only think with shame,
How seldom to thy glorious Name
Our lips their offerings pay.

III.

I.

Some murmur when their sky is clear,
And wholly bright to view,
If one small speck of dark appear
In their great heaven of blue.
And some with thankful love are filled,
If but one streak of light,
One ray of God's good mercy, gild
The darkness of their night.

II.

In palaces are hearts that ask,
In discontent and pride,
Why life is such a dreary task,

E ARST Sylla tooke no shame, for Minos sake
Hir father Nysus purple pate to sheare,
Medea for the loue of Iason brake
The bands of kind, and slew hir brother deare,
Forwent hir worthy Sire, and kingly crowne,
And followed him the rouer vp and downe

For Theseus when in Labirinth he lay
In dread of death, the monster was so nie,
Faire Ariadna did deuise a way
To saue his life, vnlesse that Ouid lie:
And yet the beast, hir brother was in deed,
(Whom Theseus slue) and sprang of Minos seed.