love poems

White soul, too white for us who work with clay,
Sweet mistress of the gentle flowers and birds,
Harshly compelled to speak your loving words
So long but to the subtle beasts of prey:
I was your earthly husband for a day,
Too strange a nature for an eye so blue;
And yet so honest was my love to you,
I gave you something ere you went away. . . .

I've set no stone upon the grave out there,
Whither in all my years I shall not go;
But, conquering pain, and pity, and despair,
I bind these leaves with solemn hands and slow:

G AZEL

Years trodden under foot have I lain on that path of thine;
Thy musky locks are noose-like cast, around my feet to twine.
O Princess mine! boast not thyself through loveliness of face,
For that, alas, is but a sun which must full soon decline!
The loved one's stature tall, her form as fair as juniper,
Bright 'midst the rosy bowers of grace a slender tree doth shine.
Her figure, fair-proportioned as my poesy sublime,
Her slender waist is like its subtle thought — hard to divine.

Love! and my soul like ashes at thy feet!
Love! and blind tears and shattered hopes that fell!
A mad forgiveness — and a wild farewell! —
And broken steps along an old-world street,
The seas between us! — then the withering heat —
The hate that, like a demon roused from hell,
Smote into flame the splendor and the spell,
Till thou to me wert ashes, Marguerite! —

Yes, I remember. — But when storms are done,
The wet leaves sparkle on the mountain tree;
The gold clouds lie about the setting sun;

The hearth-fire of the universe
To-night burns kind and deep;
We warm ourselves before it
In converse ere we sleep.

For Love, the mighty builder,
Makes boundless space a home;
We nestle safe and fearless,
With infinite skies for dome.

When your lips to my hand you press
Lowly, my dear one,
A moment out of the daytime stress
Swift-snatched, my dear one,
I am a princess, and you my knight
Seeking a guerdon, armed for fight, —
(And the palace of Love looms near one!)

When we linger, while hours go by,
Where woods are lonely,
With garnet leaves and a mist-blue sky
Dream-deep and lonely,
I am a dryad that you have found
And fast to the life of mortals bound —
(Love's bonds are his young arms only!)

Thy love for me is like a tower
Whereto from strife and storm I flee;
High on the rock its steadfast walls
Are set above the bitter sea.

Within its shelter safe and dear
I hear, and smiling dread no more,
The mockery of the ghostly wind,
The time-waves breaking on the shore.

I love the ends of streets —
Those high and narrow dreams
That slip into men's sight
For all their blinded walls;

I love the ends of streets —
Wickets for morning-gleams,
Last taverns for the light
When evening falls;

I love the ends of streets!
From those steep stairs, it seems,
Something looks back, at night,
And calls, and calls.

I love the friendly faces of old Sorrows;
I have no secrets that they do not know.
They are so old, I think they have forgotten
What bitter words were spoken, long ago.

I hate the cold, stern faces of new Sorrows
Who stand and watch, and catch me all alone.
I should be braver if I could remember
How different the older ones have grown.

Because I love you more than all the world
I write of other things,
For how shall little words combine to tell
The wonder that love brings?

And yet if there be one frail song of mine
That finally endures,
By all the love my lips have never sung,
You know that it is yours.

Three charms I have to turn a dark world bright —
The thought of white ships sailing out to sea,
The moonlit mountains on a summer night,
And the remembrance of your love for me.