Lo! I would give my utter self to thee:—
As God was not content to give the rose
The every tint wherewith its bright heart glows,
Nor to bestow its whiteness on the sea,
Nor robe of summer verdure on the tree,
Nor on the mountain-steep its awful snows,
Nor on the night its fathomless repose
Wherethrough the stars' wings sweep eternally;—

As God was not content to give to these
Sweet gifts and many—to the flower its bloom,—
Its tender moss-wreath to the granite tomb,—
Its voice of silver to the singing breeze—

For this it is which is so sweet to me,
To suffer for thee:—When the last days came
And Byron with his eyes and heart aflame
Looked round the earth to see what cause might be
Worthy to die for, had he known but thee
His grim forlorn heart had not tarried long
Seeking an altar meet for love and song
And sacrifice heaven-sweet eternally.

To die for Greece! Yes, sweet: but sweeter far
To die for thee, if only so I might
Prove that my love for thee is winged with light
And passionately true, O one sweet star
Brightening with glory of one golden bar

Lift me by thy strange beauty evermore
And gift me nobly as with God's own grace
And give me holiest wings whereon to soar,
O face!

There never yet on loveliest hill or shore,
In old-world lands, or fair undreamed-of place,
Shone beauty such as thine for man to adore,
O face!

Love-gifts round Helen all men came to pour;
The strong world maddened for her white embrace:
Beauty past speech she had; yet thou hast more,
O face!

I never dreamed till half my life was o'er
That beauty such as thine God's hand could trace.

Yes: “fairy-tales” you love.—But was there ever fairy
So full of love and life, and laughter light and airy,
And soft coquettish glee,
As thou art? All the tales the thought of man has fashioned
Held never yet a queen so graceful and impassioned:
The sweetest fairy never equalled thee.

Ah, dear old fairy-tales! I would that thou mightst love them
For ever, and with eyes quite tearless bend above them
For ever and evermore.
Life is no fairy-tale. There comes an hour for waking.
Yet when I gaze at thee, I see the soft waves breaking

It is so strange to think that of ten thousand faces
Thine have I loved and sung.—The summer wind embraces
The flowers of all the hills,
And yet it tarries, perhaps, with special love and yearning
Beside some hare-bell,—back, and ever backward turning,
While with deep love the wild wind's dark glance fills.

And God turns back at times from all the tropic blossoms
That with their warm white deep sweet-scented tropic bosoms
Lure down from heaven the sun
And concentrates his love on English fern, or daisy

Most sweet it were that thou shouldst care for me
(If only it could be so!)—
And yet my passionate deep love for thee
Has its own crown to show.

The half of love that thou couldst give away
Would make my whole heart beat.
Yet I may love thee more with each new day:
Love's other half is sweet.

That thou wilt faithful be, and full of love and sweetness;
That thou wilt let fair Love to exquisite completeness
Round off our marriage-song,
I pray. I pray that through the years that stretch before us
God's sun may ever shine with tenderer bounty o'er us:
I pray that my love's strength may make thee strong.

I pray that every day, as day past day goes gliding,
I may be at thy side with gentlest love and guiding,
With tenderest voice and heart,—
Bestowing upon thee the love that I have lavished

Affections, passions, many there may be
In the soul's life. But one
Great love brings absolute fierce sovereignty:
Stars tremble at the sun.

The great love gathers in its wide embrace
Affections, passions all.
Where there were many, now shines but one face;
The old love-temples fall.

This is the wonder of surpassing love;
Its marvel and its doom.
A sudden wind sweeps grimly from above
And leaves one flower in bloom:

One, only one. Man rises to his height
Of being when he knows
That love for one alone can flood life's night

We know not yet what heavenly love shall be,
Save that it shall be sweet.
Yet this I know: that utmost heaven one me
Shines, when I hear thy feet.

Heaven will be glad and full of calm to me,
Dead will be all despair,
If but my glance may fall again on thee,—
If only thou art there!

Because thou hast not made me smile, but thou
Hast made me weep,
I know that I shall love thee even as now
When death brings sleep.

Because at last I tremble as I fall
Before Love's feet,
I know I love thee, sweetheart, more than all
Who made life sweet.

Because at last I sorrow and am afraid
And dread Love's hand,—
Because an agony lest loveless shade
Blot out Love's land

Possesses me,—I know that all my heart
Is thine indeed,
And that strong love of thee, not love of Art,
Is now my creed.