If Life be the street
Where dreams are sold,
Faith is the purse
Of exhaustless gold.

Dreams are a-many,
Both false and true,
But Love's is the home
You fetch them to;

And there, all alone
With Love, you pour
The dreams you bought
On your chamber floor.

And when Love looks
Each packet through,
His smile turns all
The false ones true!

I must not say that thou wast true,
Yet let me say that thou wast fair;
And they, that lovely face who view,
Why should they ask if truth be there?

Truth—what is truth? Two bleeding hearts,
Wounded by men, by fortune tried,
Outwearied with their lonely parts,
Vow to beat henceforth side by side.

The world to them was stern and drear
Their lot was but to weep and moan.
Ah, let them keep their faith sincere,
For neither could subsist alone!

But souls whom some benignant breath
Hath charm'd at birth from gloom and care,

I saw the beauty of the world
Before me like a flag unfurled,
The splendor of the morning sky,
And all the stars in company:
I thought, How beautiful it is!
My soul said, There is more than this.

I saw the pomps of death and birth,
The generations of the earth;
I looked on saints and heroes crowned,
And love as wide as heaven is round:
I thought, How wonderful it is!
My soul said, There is more than this.

Sometimes I have an awful thought
That bids me do the thing I ought;
It comes like wind, it burns like flame;

How long did the sun's round passionate mouth
Kiss that rose's lips, I wonder?
How long did the amorous wind from the south
Try to press her petals asunder?

How long did the honey-bee flit to and fro
Ere she threw her red vest apart,
And showed a glory of gold and snow
Hoarded beside her heart?

Longer far have I yearned for thy love,
And flown round thy folded blossom.
Will pity or passion never move
The proud disdain of thy bosom?

Love me! I loved thee long ago:
Love me! the land is sunny:

Thy Spirit's deeper beauties shine
Thy body's outward beauty through,
And by thine eyes we can divine,
As by a lamp before a shrine,
The lovely inner soul of you.

Were thy heart soft, as Thou art faire,
Thou wert a wonder, past compare.
But frozen Love and feirce Disdaine
By their Extreames thy Graces staine.
Cold coynesse quenches the still fires
Which glowe in Lovers' warme desires;
And scorne, like the quick Light'ning's blaze,
Darts Death against affection's gaze.
O Heavens, what prodigy is this
When Love in Beauty buryed is!
Or that Dead Pitty thus should bee
Tomb'd in a Living Cruelty.

Fear no more the wingèd boy,
He has spent on me his quiver,
Tortures me in cruel joy,
Burns my heart nor leaves me ever,
Cast aside his plumage vain,
Never more to fly again.

If Leander's lips I meet
All my thoughts to Xanthus turn,
If 'tis Xanthus that I greet
For Hippomenes I burn,
If Hippomenes be nigh
To Leander back I fly.

Full possession has no charms;
What I have not, that I love.
Taking all men to my arms
There I win my treasure trove.
Blame me, maidens, if you will,
You that love one lover still.

An angel watched the world rejoicing:
The flowers sang in the morning light;
The blue sea sang its tender love-song
To golden-girdled stars at night.
All seemed so full of peace and gladness—
Till lo! a sudden ice-cold breath
Passed over hill and wave and meadow:
A stern voice whispered, “I am Death!”

Alas! in all that angel's dreaming
His loving heart had never dreamed
That only for one single moment
The fairy blossoms sang and gleamed.
He turned, and in despairing sadness
Would have resought the heavens above,

To sea those pirate craft again have gone,
Euphro and Thaïs and Boïdion.
Such harpies once as vexed King Diomede,
Stripping their victims naked in their greed.
Agis they've wrecked and Cleophon as well,
Antagoras of them a tale can tell.
Fly then Love's corsairs, fly these frigates bold,
More deadly they than Siren maids of old.