love poem

1.

What had destroyed their edifice of love?
Nothing but love.
They thought they would live in it forever;
Forever secure.
They entrenched themselves behind it
As though it were a fort;
Prepared to withstand the sieges of the world.
And one day they saw there were great gaps in the walls, the roof was caving in, even the foundations sagged;
And they saw that the whole house was crumbling and rotting before their eyes.
For they had built only with love —

There is, they say, no sweetest rose,
There is no fairest face; for fancy grows
Its own deceiver.
But, right or wrong, what does love care?
I say, " World over, only one's all fair, "
And so believe her.

A flame — an instant, secret, mystic thing —
Burns in my soul, and shall forever burn.
The harm is done; in vain were murmuring;
For she that kindled it will never learn
Whose hand it was. She will not even turn
To me, though to her garment-hem I cling;
Nor one of all the days to be will bring
Me strength to speak to her. I can but yearn.
Albeit God made her tender and so sweet,
Love sets for naught the music of her feet.
For naught love follows her with soft command;
She hears stern duty only, night and day.

They are lovers, the winds, that sweep o'er the lea;
He, the strong breeze that lashes the sea;
She the swift wind that sighs through the trees,
Breath of the pines, whose fragrance she grieves;
He strong and salt, with passionate cry,
North Wind and South Wind, lovingly sigh.

Oh, drink thou deep of the purple wine,
And it's hey for love, for I love you so!
Oh, clasp me close, with your lips on mine,
And it's hey for love, for I love you so!
The sea lies violet, deep, and wide,
My heart beats high with the rushing tide;
Was it fancy, beloved, the seagulls cried:
" Sing loud for love, for I love him so " ?

Oh, little boat on the tossing wave,
Sing loud for love, for I love him so!
Oh, tall pine tree in the shadows grave,
Sing loud for love, for I love him so!

Let us live my Lesbia and Love,
When Dear desires our bosoms move
And their Quick Zest to pleasures give
Tis then we may be said to live.

2

Kiss me soft my Lovely Love,
Soft and melting as the Dove,
Fondly eager, kind, and sweet,
Thus our mixing Souls may meet,
Let thy gentle
The short transporting Joy prolong.

3

Do not yet thy lips remove,
Kiss me on, my charming Love.
I dye with every pointed kiss,
Oh let me dye in such a bliss,
Renew again the Amorous play

Indeed (my Dear) you wrong my Dog in this,
And show yourself to be of crabbed kind,
That will not let my fawning whelp to kiss
You first, that fain would show his Master's mind:
A Mastiff were more fit for such a one,
That can not let her Lover's dog alone.

He in his kind for me did seem to sue,
That erst did stand so highly in your grace,
His Master's mind the witty Spaniel knew,
And thought his wonted Mistress was in place:
But now at last (good faith) I plainly see
That Dogs more wise than women friendly be.

When every spur of whin's a spike of ice,
Each grassy tussock bristling blades of steel,
Each withered bracken-frond a rare device
Of sparkling crystal crackling under-heel
With brittle tinkling, then it is the time,
O Love, to leave the chilly hearth and climb
The sunlit Beacon, where the live airs blow
Along the clean wave-edge of drifted snow.

Love, let us go
And scale the ridge: I long to see you there
Breathing the eager air
With cheeks aglow,
The sunlight on your hair:
O Love, I long to share

All night under the moon
Plovers are flying
Over the dreaming meadows of silvery light,
Over the meadows of June
Flying and crying —
Wandering voices of love in the hush of the night.

All night under the moon
Love, though we're lying
Quietly under the thatch, in the silvery light
Over the meadows of June
Together we're flying —
Rapturous voices of love in the hush of the night.

Who shall remember love
At the break of day
When the wind blows out to sea
From the circling bay?
Who shall remember love
At the end of night
When the nested birds of the dark
Have taken flight?
When white is the path of the foam
And the waves are filled with light,
Who shall remember love?