Classic Poem

Give me Fame — give me Fame!
What is Love? 'Tis a name!
'Tis written on water — a breath will dispel
Every trace, though as fair as the moon on the sea:
And the hues it has left but a moment will dwell
In the heart, though as bright as the brightest can be.

Give me Fame — give me Fame!
What is Love? 'Tis a name —
A delusion, created by Fancy, to bind
Ambition in jesses, that falcon-like flew
With its eye on the sun and its wing on the wind,
Till it soared and was lost in the distance of blue.

Give me Fame — give me Fame!
What is Love? 'Tis a name —
A phantom that yields no substantial delight —
A shadow, a vapor, that passes away —
The star-spangled mists of a beautiful night —
The sun-burnished clouds of a beautiful day.

What is Love? 'Tis a name!
Give me Fame — give me Fame!
Fame lives on the altar of thought, like a fire
Undimmed by misfortune, unquenched by despair;
For, though shrouded awhile, it will shoot up the higher
When fanned by the breath of Adversity's air.

What is Love? 'Tis a name!
Give me Fame — give me Fame!
In the hearts of the good and the true let me know
That my memory lingers — my mind is impressed,
Then nobly I'll strive, though in sadness laid low,
And the billows of anguish encompass my breast.

What is Love? 'Tis a name!
Give me Fame — give me Fame!
Love's a flower that springs in the valley, too frail
To survive when the sky darkens into a frown;
Fame's a flower that blooms, though the mountainous gale
From the Alp, where it grows, hurls the avalanche down!