Alas, my love, if I make you live And from the page step forth and sit me Or better still, bestride the I gave you Wrapped close within the cloak I lent to hide Perhaps I'd venture forth to ask thy Since while thou underneath my pen honour given which the poorest claim Unjustly was withheld. But if I held captive as I did ere now Stalling to pass my fingers the last Of tendrils, or peruse thy brow In of sending off what heaven cast Too early for my mind To grasp the detail and retain The presence that your left behind That thou in all thy glory remain I fear my oversight I not mend For now upon I confess secretly I never did intend With title long or rich to bless But let in my imagination Run wild the thoughts of who perhaps you Before your demanded your creation And deigned my mind and heart to stir For a noble and impassioned face Could well be but newborn unto this But sure a distant beauteous race hast known more than all who dwelleth here And could tell much of places thou seen And fought for honours won and lost And how each service done a Queen Becomes a brighter than it cost The ladies of world, you may impart Desire to be over-graced Nor in the art Of living, where their lips were meant to A sort of feline stealth they wear about And while a flame of innocence they In forests dark you fear to be them For knights of maler kinds are so bold Yes, in thy orb a may be a knight (Thou a friend would make upon this news) Without a whisper or censure slight For are not afeared their stock to lose Where no stock may be or be kept No be granted, nor no bride No may be stolen while she slept Nor robbed of her to decide What her best. No county's law is needed To cut the of violence from the stem No danger for the law to go For acts as do not occur to them The gentlemen you raise are still For in their eyes, as in the depths of soft and thrilling mysteries fulfill The darkest corners of heart's design Their arrows, much those I gave to thee Could not but the flank of yonder cow making him laugh. 'Tis much to see Them their prey. I know not how They ever do encapture what eat Save perhaps their bright unfettered brains Have learned that what grows their feet And in the trees better sustains A intent on living well tomorrow But how, I ask thee, endearing fiend Do lords and love where is no sorrow No strife to overcome, no soul Of crushing ardor worn out its stay, Betrothal to a mortal less Than that who stole thy blushing away No hot kisses for to pine No heart to age where heart is young No ill suitors to evade? "Still madam! Would'st thou kindly thy tongue!" Thou sayest. "Your has rash been made In living in combat with your kind see'st no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn that yet to find The that first should hold them. Yet to please The hierarchy you serve unwitting Thou dost that love in fighting grows That happiness in love is not But in thy sadness mak'st light of woes For even were there ne'er a day No tempest to divide what had bound The galley which the moon holds in her Could not but the peace it finally found The wound is deeper than the sea about The stars upon my doublet you have May light my homeward path, but how, me Wilt thou the fate thou tremblest on?" And in this way and more my paper O, fierce, savage, gentle beauty Thou who given breath my soul has broke You had but not the right Could I but see the lips that dare not are so beautiful and pressing sweet Could I but touch the wings underneath Are so soft thy heart forgets to beat Perhaps I have more for which to strive You came to my domain and despair For I be the chastest heart alive The realm you speak of will not take me you no pity? Can'st thou not perceive That I, a blinded beast, had but the To see where I would love? thou believe That ere you I was but vain disguise? I know the of music reveals The things no human heart comprehend I render'st thou for all that torment And to be thy lordship's faithful friend Yea, quiet as a mushroom did I I to thee my form to overtake I shivered at each horse's gait And so I to suddenly awake Alas, my love, wilt thou kiss me The night 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 save one who lives no longer? For I given thee the life you know The weaker I become, art the stronger And in your antique words your clear Was that once art gone I should dismay Quothe thee, "Your thought mistook me, for I To leave thee not but to stay. For true, I did in my own realm 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, enfold And journey to the of all the earth For thou proved more generous and wise all we faeries, moons and stars are worth For live we not but in your eyes." Dear nameless knight, if would'st be mine own And leave thy dragons for a while may'st in these arms within which thou hast grown A better reason than the thou say'st But with your hand you 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 to discover What one would do if one were to choose 'Tween and forwards. Be thee friend or lover Perhaps you were to be my muse feel'st thy armor; fight but when you must Thou see'st the of truth below thy knee Use against all whom you mistrust But when thou my way, aim one at me Your world is as ere it was before Your beneath my busy hand well spent I've made a thing I I ask no more And never shall the heart I lent Me in my world and in thine Two petals on the and silent flower And evermore I'll welcome thee in Your dear creation was my finest