love poetry

My love is a winged heart ...
O dark depths of my ghost whence, throbbing, she flies
Out and up to the heavens on the golden thread of my love ...

My love is a winged heart ...
And I draw in the golden thread, I draw it in quickly,
Lest she be flown, lest she be quite vanished ...

My love is a winged heart ...
Singing, she drops in my hands, and I put her warm in my breast ...
Surely I should die if she never returned.

I will fight for my land,
I will work for my land,
Will it foster with love, in my faith, in my child.
I will eke every gain,
I will seek boot for bane,
From its easternmost bound to the western sea wild.


Here is sunshine enough,
Here is seed-earth enough,
If by us, if by us all love's duty were done.
Here is will to create;
Though our burdens be great,
We can lift up our land, if we all lift as one.


In the past we went wide
O'er the sea's surging tide,

Blanche is Boldini minus Southern fire;
But one will flicker and the other tire:
Neither is great, for each has won a place
With more of reclame than abiding grace.
And yet, perhaps, they meet the Ruskin test,
And " try, with loving care, to do their best."

O Red Rag of the Legion! cheap but fair,
How Merit flings thee to the startled air!
Thy function in this world is manifold,
The soldier loves thee, and the bourgeois bold;
But there is none that loves thee quite so much
As brushman putting Fortune to the touch.

As it was written in the Book of Fate,
The ranting rabble loves the second-rate;
For the one touch that makes the whole world kin —
Vulgarity — is commonplace as sin.

My cruel Dear, having captived my heart,
And bound it fast in chains of restless love,
Requires it out of bondage to depart;
Yet is she sure from her it cannot move.
" Draw back, " said she, " your hopeless love from me;
Your worth requires a far more worthy place;
Unto your suit though I cannot agree,
Full many will it lovingly embrace. "
" It may be so, my dear, but, as the Sun,
When it appears, doth make the stars to vanish;
So when yourself into my thoughts do run,
All others quite out of my heart you banish.

If you would know the love which I you bear,
Compare it to the ring which your fair hand
Shall make more precious, when you shall it wear:
So my love's nature you shall understand.
Is it of metal pure? so you shall prove
My love, which ne'er disloyal thought did stain,
Hath it no end? so endless is my love,
Unless you it destroy with your disdain.
Doth it the purer wax, the more 'tis tried?
So doth my love: yet herein they dissent,
That whereas gold, the more 'tis purified,
By waxing less, doth show some part is spent;

When time nor place would let me often view
Nature's chief mirror, and my sole delight,
Her lively picture in my heart I drew,
That I might it behold both day and night:
But she, like Philip's son, scorning that I
Should portray her, wanting Apelles' art,
Commanded Love, who nought dare her deny,
To burn the picture which was in my heart.
The more Love burned, the more her picture shined;
The more it shined, the more my heart did burn:
So what to hurt her picture was assigned,
To my heart's ruin and decay did turn.

My Love is sailed, against Dislike to fight,
Which, like vild monster, threatens his decay:
The ship is Hope, which, by Desire's great might,
Is swiftly borne towards the wished bay:
The company which with my Love doth fare,
Though met in one, is a dissenting crew:
They are Joy, Grief, and never-sleeping Care,
And Doubt, which ne'er believes good news for true
Black Fear the flag is, which my ship doth bear,
Which, Dear, take down, if my Love victor be:
And let white Comfort in his place appear,

Pale Death himself did love my Philomel,
When he her virtues and rare beauty saw;
Therefore he sickness sent; which should expel
His rival Life, and my Dear to him draw.
But her bright beauty dazzled so his eyes,
That his dart Life did miss, though her it hit;
Yet, not therewith content, new means he tries,
To bring her unto Death, and make Life flit.
But Nature, soon perceiving that he meant
To spoil her only Phaenix, her chief pride,
Assembled all her force, and did prevent
The greatest mischief that could her betide.