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My Life's Delight

Come, oh, come, my life's delight,
Let me not in languor pine!
Love loves no delay;
The more enjoyed the more divine:

Oh, come, and take from me
The pain of being deprived of thee!

Thou all sweetness dost enclose
Like a little world of bliss.
Beauty guards thy looks: the rose
In them pure and eternal is.
Come then, and make thy flight
As swift to me as heavenly light!

At Sunset

Clasp her and hold her and love her,
— Here in the arching green
Of boughs that bend above her
— With belts of blue between.

Clasp her and hold her and love her,
— Swift! Ere the splendor dies;
The blue grows black above her,
— The earth in shadow lies.

Flowers of dream enfold her.
— Soft! Let me bend above,
Clasp her and love her and hold her,
— Clasp her and hold and love.

Frightened Face

Child of the frightened face,
Trying to understand
The little bit of love
Under your hand,

Holding the little love
Under fingers that crush
That which is soft as the
Throat of a thrush,

Holding your hand upon
The wonder of the thing,
Crushing out the song that
Wanted to sing:

Child of the frightened face,
Why do your fingers try
To kill the little love?
Soon it would die.

Epigram

Charm of my life, my dearest care,
Never, O never here I swear,
Within my cradling arms has lain
Your like, nor ever will again.
Give me your willing lips that I
May taste the honey of the vine,
And give me when I ask for wine
The cup in which your kisses lie.

And if--ah, if--my sweetest sweet,
With love as true my love you greet,
A greater joy than mortals know
Within my heart will flame and grow;
O not so rapt in godlike bliss
In his high halls is Jove indeed
When in his arms young Ganymede
Snuggles and lifts warm lips to kiss.

To His Ever-Loving God

Can I not come to Thee, my God, for these
So very-many-meeting hindrances,
That slack my pace; but yet not make me stay?
Who slowly goes, rids (in the end) his way.
Cleere Thou my paths, or shorten Thou my miles,
Remove the barrs, or lift me o're the stiles:
Since rough the way is, help me when I call,
And take me up; or els prevent the fall.
I kenn my home; and it affords some ease,
To see far off the smoaking Villages.
Fain would I rest; yet covet not to die,
For feare of future-biting penurie:
No, no, (my God) Thou know'st my wishes be

Lost Love

Bury it, and sift
Dust upon its light, —
Death must not be left,
To offend the sight.

Cover the old love —
Weep not on the mound —
Grass shall grow above,
Lilies spring around.

Can we fight the law,
Can our natures change —
Half-way through withdraw —
Other lives exchange?

You and I must do
As the world has done,
There is nothing new
Underneath the sun.

Fill the grave up full —
Put the dead love by —
Not that men are dull,
Not that women lie, —

Gypsy Love Song

1. The birds of the forest are calling for thee And the
shades and the glades are lonely; Summer is there with her blossoms
fair, And you are absent only. No
bird that nests in the green-wood tree But sighs to greet you and
kiss you, All the violets yearn, yearn for your safe return, But
most of all I miss you.
2. The fawn that you tamed has a look in its eyes That doth
say " We are too long parted; " Songs that are trolled by our comrades
old Are not now as they were light hearted. The
wild rose fades in the leafy shades Its ghost will find you and

ice Temporarily Unavailabl

I've known fancies turn into dreaming,
but never believed a dream could be like this:
she was fair, fair, immaculate,
she was pure, pure perfection,
as she sat, intimate, by hibiscus cushions,
as she turned back the joy-of-love quilt,
and her elegant footsteps were so lovely,
her whispered words most enchanting.
What I describe didn't seem to happen fast,
but then, strangely, became a momentary thing,
and I woke to nothingness,
aware that all is empty illusion.