Classic Poem

WHEREIN HER GLANCES SOOTHE AND CHECK HIM

When passion, that with double ardent spurs
And stubborn bit leads and constrains my paces,
Transgresses now and then the common graces
To suit the sighs of Love's idolaters,
Her it discovers, since the sign is hers
Who reads the deep heart's dread in ravaged traces
Upon my patent forehead, while Love faces
A light more piercing than the glance it stirs.
So that, like one who fears the falling blow
Of furious Jupiter, the will retires,
For great fears always conquer great desires;
But the cold fire and cringing hope which so
Cleave to my soul, transparent as a glass,
Over her eyes will sometimes sweetly pass.