Classic Poem

WHEREIN LAURA IS GRAVELY ILL

Love, Nature, and that sweet soul's gentleness
Where every pure and lofty virtue dwells,
Are leagued against my peace. Love strains and swells
His malice to destroy me or distress;
The threads which bind the slender nakedness
Of Nature to the earth are weak. Farewells
To the world move that proud heart which rebels
Humbly against the burdens that oppress.
So falters and so fades her spirit's power
Which should inform the flesh like some white flower,
Or turn the mirror to this graceless age:
And soon, if Pity do not Death assuage,
Alas! Too well I see that hopes are lies
And I a fool in a fool's paradise!