love poems for her

I love to see the big white moon,
A-shining in the sky;
I love to see the little stars,
When the shadow clouds go by.

I love the rain drops falling
On my roof-top in the night;
I love the soft wind's sighing,
Before the dawn's gray light.

I love the deepness of the blue,
In my Lord's heaven above;
But better than all these things I think,
I love my lady love.

Too late, alas! I must confess,
— You need not arts to move me;
Such charms by nature you possess,
— 'Twere madness not to love ye.

Then spare a heart you may surprise,
— And give my tongue the glory
To boast, though my unfaithful eyes
— Betray a tender story.

In pity first to human kind,
Love taught the art of writing;
But soon deceit stepped in, we find,
And taught man false inditing.

False vows, false words, nay e'en false tears,
Soon after were invented;
And Love from each account appears
Almost to have repented

That he disclosed the magic art,
At first for gods intended,
By which he thought the virgin heart
Would be so much befriended.

What vows, what sighs on paper flow,
In words as sweet as honey!
They melt away like now-fall'n snow,

1. To thee, Eternal Soul, be praise! Who, from of old to our own days
2. We thank thee for each mighty one Through whom thy living light hath shone;
Through souls of saints and prophets, Lord, Hast sent thy light, thy love, thy word.
And for each humble soul and sweet That lights to heaven our wandering feet.

3. We thank thee for the love divine
Made real in every saint of thine;
That boundless love itself that gives
In service to each soul that lives.

4. We thank thee for the word of might
Thy Spirit spake in darkest night,

To stones trust not your monument
To make a living fame endure.
Who built Dun Angus battlement?
O'Flaherty is forgotten in Auchnanure.

And he who told how Troy was sacked
And what men clipt the lovely Burd,
Had seven Mayors to swear, in fact,
Their towns first heard his babbling word.

Each word of love a child doth speak,
It sows a flower, to bloom
Along its aged parent's path,
Descending to the tomb!

No more may blush the summer's rose
To glad their failing sight;
Nor to the ravished sense, as once,
Its fragrance give delight.

But every word of love they hear
Is treasured in the heart;
A bloom, a fragrance there to shed,
Which never can depart!

IMITATED

LIGHT falls the rain-drop on the fallen leaf,
And light o'er harvest-plain and garnered sheaf —
But lightlier falls the touch of loving hands.

Light falls the dusk of mild midsummer night,
And light the first star's faltering lance of light
On glimmering lawns, — but lightlier loving hands.

And light the feathery flake of early snows,
Or wisp of thistle-down that no wind blows,

AH! at last alone, love!
Now the band may play
Till its sweetest tone, love,
Swoons and dies away!
They who most will miss us
We're not caring for —
Who of them could kiss us
In the corridor?

Had we only known, dear,
Ere this long delay,
Just how all alone, dear,
We might waltz away,
Then for hours, like this, love,
We are longing for,
We'd have still to kiss, love,
In the corridor!

Nestle in my heart, love;
Hug and hold me close —
Time will come to part, love,

I

To love thee brings me sadness, for I know
each time the time will never come again,—
that every moment brings the darker stain
of riper manhood. Liker as we grow,
Love stirs his wings, impatient to remain.

II

Each night of love from such a love doth part
thy forward-looking self. At each remove
from boyhood thou art further from my love,
though nearer to the knowledge of my heart.
Love joineth us the closer to dispart.

To G, her one and only rose,
Her A this bond of true love shows.
Ah, how can I endure the pain
Or patience to the utmost strain
Till you have come back home again?
Am I a stone that should not yearn,
Do you believe, for your return?
All day, all night, I'm anguish-tossed
Like one who foot and hand has lost.
Without you, all that joys my blood
Is little more than trampled mud.
Far from rejoicing, I shed tears
And never happiness appears.
When I recall how you caressed
So joyously, my little breast