Classic Poem

WHEREIN HER PRESENCE INFLAMES HIS HEART BUT FREEZES HIS TONGUE

If never fire by fire was yet subdued,
If never flood by dint of rain grew less,
But, like to like, if each of each increase,
And opposites are often mutual food;
Love, that canst sway the music of each mood,
Through whom two bodies keep their singleness
Of soul, how, why in her with such distress,
Between the flesh and spirit prolong the feud?
Perchance, as the vast downward Nile will run
Deafening all the valleys with his tide,
And as in the fixed eye still glares the sun —
So, in self-treason passion will divide,
By its own headlong eagerness undone,
As the too frequent spur shortens the stride.