Ballad , since Love himself hath fashioned thee
Within my mind where he doth make abode,
Hie thee to her who through mine eyes bestow'd
Her blessing on my heart, which stays with me.

Since thou wast born a handmaiden of Love,
With every grace thou shouldst be perfected,
And everywhere seem gentle, wise, and sweet.
And for that thine aspect gives sign thereof,
I do not tell thee, ‘Thus much must be said:’—
Hoping, if thou inheritest my wit,
And com'st on her when speech may ill befit,
That thou wilt say no words of any kind:

Oh, give me, Lord, Thy love for souls,
For lost and wand'ring sheep,
That I may see the multitudes
And weep as Thou dost weep.
Help me to see the tragic plight
Of souls far off in sin;
Help me to love, to pray, and go
To bring the wand'ring in.

Take Thou some flaming coals,
From off the altar of thy heart
To touch my life and give me, Lord,
A heart that's hot for souls.
O Fire of Love, O Flame Divine,
Make Thy abode in me;
Burn in my heart, burn evermore,
Till I burn out for Thee.

Fly away, fly away, over the sea,
Sun-loving swallow, for summer is done.
Come again, come again, come back to me,
Bringing the summer and bringing the sun.

Out I came from the dancing-place,
The night-wind met me face to face,—

A wind off the harbor, cold and keen,
“I know,” it whistled, “where thou hast been.”

A faint voice fell from the stars above—
“Thou? whom we lighted to shrines of Love!”

I found when I reached my lonely room
A faint sweet scent in the unlit gloom.

And this was the worst of all to bear,
For some one had left white lilac there.

The flower you loved, in times that were.

“Say, where is the maiden sweet,
Whom you once so sweetly sung,
When the flames of mighty heat
Filled your heart and fired your tongue?”

Ah, those flames no longer burn,
Cold and drear the heart that fed;
And this book is but the urn
Of the ashes of love dead.

My love for thee doth march like armèd men,
Against a queenly city they would take.
Along the army's front its banners shake;
Across the mountain and the sun-smit plain
It steadfast sweeps as sweeps the steadfast rain;
And now the trumpet makes the still air quake,
And now the thundering cannon doth awake
Echo on echo, echoing loud again.
But, lo! the conquest higher than bard e'er sung:
Instead of answering cannon, proud surrender!
Joyful the iron gates are open flung
And, for the conqueror, welcome gay and tender!

Cupid no more shall give me grief,
Or anxious cares oppress my soul,
While generous Bacchus brings relief,
And drowns 'em in a flowing bowl.

Celia, thy scorn I now despise,
Thy boasted empires I disown:
This takes the brightness from thy eyes,
And makes it sparkle in my own.

Sometimes, in very joy of shame,
Our flesh becomes one living flame:
And she and I
Are no more separate, but the same.

Ardour and agony unite;
Desire, delirium, delight:
And I and she
Faint in the fierce and fevered night.

Her body music is: and ah,
The accords of lute and viola!
When she and I
Play on live limbs love's opera!

Still to one end they both so justly drew,
As courteous Doves together yok'd would do.
No weight of Birth did on one side prevaile,
Two Twins less even lie in Natures Scale,
They mingled Fates, and both in each did share,
They both were Servants, they both Princes were.
If any Joy to one of them was sent;
It was most his, to whom it least was meant,
And fortunes malice betwixt both was crost,
For striking one, it wounded th'other most.
Never did Marriage such true Union find,
Or mens desires with so glad violence bind;

Poore wasted Hart that wandrest not astray,
Although thy PEARLE her orient colour change:
Thou, which in thy first Faith unstaind dost stay,
Although she from her plighted vow doth range:
Ah, where are now thy cheerfull daies of Hope?
Thy Lives line, Love, what wretched hand hath broke?

Alas, poore soule, how badly art thou usde,
For thy much loving (loving over long?)
Causeles without desert to be refusde,
And for thy right to be repaid with wrong?
(Fond) do betimes from Fancies Fort retire,
Reason retaine, and banish rash Desire.