Alas, my love, if I could you live And from the step forth and sit beside me Or still, bestride the steed I gave you Wrapped within the cloak I lent to hide thee Perhaps I'd forth to ask thy name Since thou liest underneath my pen That honour given which the claim was withheld. But if again I held thee as I did ere now to pass my fingers through the last Of tendrils, or peruse thy brow In fear of off what heaven cast Too early for my mind To grasp the detail and retain The that your image left behind That in all thy glory should remain I fear my oversight I would not For now reflection I confess That I never did intend With title long or surname rich to But rather let in my Run wild the of who perhaps you were Before your soul demanded your And deigned my mind and heart to stir For such a and impassioned face Could well be but unto this sphere But sure among a distant race Thou hast known more than all who here And could tell much of places thou seen And battles fought for honours won and And how each done a faerie Queen a brighter jewel than it cost The of your world, you may impart Desire to be over-graced Nor in the art Of living, where their were meant to taste A sort of feline stealth wear about them And while a flame of they hold In forests dark you fear to be them For knights of maler are ne'er so bold Yes, in thy orb a maid may be a (Thou knew'st a friend would upon this news) Without a whisper loud or censure For are not afeared their stock to lose no stock may be taken 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 for the law to go unheeded For acts as do not occur to them The gentlemen you are rarer still For in their eyes, as in the of thine Such soft and thrilling fulfill The darkest corners of their heart's Their arrows, much those I gave to thee Could not but graze the flank of cow Without making him laugh. much to see Them tickling prey. I know not how They ever do what they eat Save that perhaps their bright brains Have learned that grows underneath their feet And in the trees better sustains A intent on living well tomorrow But how, I ask thee, most fiend Do lords and love where is no sorrow No strife to overcome, no soul Of crushing ardor long out its stay, Betrothal to a mortal divine Than that who thy blushing breath away No hot forbidden for to pine No heart affixed to age where is young No ill intentioned to evade? "Still madam! Would'st kindly hold thy tongue!" sayest. "Your mistake has rash been made In long in combat with your kind Thou see'st no obstacle but these Thy are careworn that have yet to find The hands that should hold them. Yet to please The which you serve unwitting Thou dost believe that love in fighting That in love is not befitting But in thy sadness thou mak'st of woes For even were ne'er a cloudy day No tempest to divide what had bound The which the moon holds in her sway not but stir the peace it finally found The wound is deeper than the sea thee The stars upon my doublet you drawn May light my homeward path, but how, me Wilt thou escape the fate thou on?" And in this way and more my paper O, fierce, savage, gentle bright Thou who I've breath my soul has broke You had but not the right Could I but see the lips dare not breathe They are so beautiful and pressing Could I but touch the that underneath Are made so soft thy heart forgets to Perhaps I should have for which to strive 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 Can'st thou not perceive I, a blinded beast, had but the eyes To see where I would love? thou believe ere you came I was but vain disguise? I know the of music reveals The things no human could comprehend I render'st thou for all that torment And longed to be thy lordship's faithful Yea, quiet as a mushroom did I I to thee my form to overtake I shivered at each horse's gait And so I slept to awake Alas, my love, wilt thou me goodbye? The lingering night will aid thee on thy I'll craft but one more, a crow to fly Before to me how thy tale unravels I say, thou art and free to go What holds thee here one who lives no longer? For I have thee the life you know The weaker I become, art the stronger And in your antique your clear intent Was that once art gone I should dismay Quothe thee, "Your mistook me, for I meant To leave thee not but to stay. For true, I never did in my own of that pure love of which I told 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 hast proved more generous and Than all we faeries, moons and stars are For live we not but in your eyes." Dear nameless knight, if would'st be mine own And leave thy for a while thou may'st Find in these arms within which hast grown A better than the which 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 thee to What one would do if one were asked to back and forwards. Be thee friend or lover Perhaps you to be my favorite muse Thou thy armor; fight but when you must Thou see'st the blade of truth below thy Use arrows against all whom you But thou ride'st my way, aim one at me Your world is yours as ere it was Your beneath my busy hand well spent I've made a thing I I ask no more And never redeem the heart I lent Me in my and thyself in thine Two petals on the same and flower And evermore I'll welcome in mine Your dear was my finest hour