Classic Poem

WHEREIN HE PLEADS EXCESS OF PASSION

Often have I implored, and still implore,
Praying to Love — rich agony, grim bliss —
To plead for me your mercy if, amiss,
My guilty steps should consciously ignore
The proper path: that Reason, Emperor
Of happier minds, is quelled by Lust's hot kiss
I know; and hence like Man in Genesis,
The victor, by my own will, shuts the door.
You, in whose breast Genius and Virtue dwell
With double blaze beneath a generous sky,
Never did star grace such a miracle!
You, you should cry, with pity in your cry,
" How could he ever escape these eyes as well,
So passionate he — so fiercely beautiful I? "