Alas, my love, if I could make you And the page step forth and sit beside me Or better still, bestride the steed I you Wrapped close within the cloak I to hide thee Perhaps I'd venture to ask thy name Since thou liest underneath my pen honour given which the poorest claim Unjustly was withheld. But if I thee captive as I did ere now to pass my fingers through the last Of midnight tendrils, or peruse thy In fear of off what heaven cast Too for my insufficient mind To the fullest detail and retain The presence that your image left thou in all thy glory should remain I my oversight I would not mend For now upon I confess secretly I never did intend With title long or surname to bless But let in my imagination Run the thoughts of who perhaps you were Before soul demanded your creation And deigned my mind and heart to stir For such a noble and impassioned Could well be but unto this sphere But sure among a beauteous race Thou hast more than all who dwelleth here And could tell of places thou hast seen And battles fought for won and lost And how each service done a Queen Becomes a brighter jewel than it The ladies of your world, you may to be neither over-graced Nor in the art Of living, their lips were meant to taste A sort of feline stealth they wear them And while a of innocence they hold In forests dark you to be without them For knights of maler are ne'er so bold Yes, in thy orb a may be a knight (Thou knew'st a would make upon this news) Without a loud or censure slight For lords are not afeared their stock to Where no stock may be taken or be No be granted, nor no bride No maiden may be stolen she slept Nor of her freedom to decide What suits her best. No county's law is To cut the of violence from the stem No danger for the law to go For as these do not occur to them The you raise are rarer still For in their eyes, as in the of thine Such soft and thrilling fulfill The darkest corners of their design Their arrows, much those I gave to thee Could not but graze the of yonder cow Without making him laugh. much to see tickling their prey. I know not how They ever do what they eat Save that perhaps their bright unfettered learned that what grows underneath their feet And in the trees better sustains A life intent on well tomorrow But how, I ask thee, most endearing Do lords and ladies love is no sorrow No strife to overcome, no uncleaned Of crushing ardor worn out its stay, Betrothal to a less divine that who stole thy blushing breath away No hot forbidden for to pine No heart affixed to age heart is young No ill suitors to evade? "Still madam! Would'st thou hold thy tongue!" Thou sayest. "Your mistake has rash made In living long in with your kind Thou no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn that have yet to The hands that first should them. Yet to please The hierarchy which you serve Thou dost believe love in fighting grows That happiness in is not befitting But in thy sadness thou mak'st of woes For even were there a cloudy day No tempest to what love had bound The galley which the holds in her sway Could not but the peace it finally found The wound is deeper the sea about thee The stars upon my you have drawn May my homeward path, but how, without me Wilt thou the fate thou tremblest on?" And in this way and more my paper O, fierce, savage, beauty bright who I've given breath my soul has broke You had but not the right I but see the lips that dare not breathe They are so and pressing sweet Could I but touch the wings that Are made so thy heart forgets to beat Perhaps I should have more for which to You came to my and brought despair For I be the chastest heart alive The you speak of will not take me there Have you no pity? Can'st not perceive That I, a beast, had but the eyes To see I would love? Dost thou believe ere you came I was but vain disguise? I know the of music reveals The no human heart could comprehend I render'st thou for all that torment And longed to be thy lordship's friend Yea, quiet as a did I wait I willed to thee my form to I at each passing horse's gait And so I to suddenly awake Alas, my love, wilt kiss me goodbye? The lingering will aid thee on thy travels I'll but one thing more, a crow to fly to tell me how thy tale unravels I say, thou art complete and to go What holds thee here save one who lives no For I have given thee the you know The weaker I become, thou art the And in your antique words clear intent Was that once thou art I should dismay Quothe thee, "Your mistook me, for I meant To leave not but offerest to stay. For true, I never did in my own Partake of that pure love of which I thee But be my guide and with me at the And I shall, in the cloak you wrought, thee And journey to the ends of all the For thou hast proved more and wise Than all we faeries, and stars are worth For live we not but in your eyes." Dear nameless knight, if thou would'st be own And leave thy dragons for a while thou Find in these arms within which thou hast A better reason than the thou say'st But with your you pointeth; swear I so And 'tis not plain to me, I did draw it Which way thou intend for us to go Sure in the it is of she who saw it Yet still perhaps I made thee to What one would do if one were asked to 'Tween and forwards. Be thee friend or lover Perhaps you were to be my muse Thou thy armor; fight but when you must Thou the blade of truth below thy knee Use arrows against all you mistrust But when thou my way, aim one at me world is yours as ere it was before Your time my busy hand well spent I've a thing I love; I ask no more And never shall the heart I lent Me in my world and in thine Two petals on the same and flower And evermore I'll welcome thee in Your dear creation was my finest