Alas, my love, if I could you live And from the page step and sit beside me Or better still, bestride the I gave you Wrapped close within the cloak I lent to hide I'd venture forth to ask thy name Since while thou underneath my pen That honour given which the claim Unjustly was withheld. But if I held thee as I did ere now Stalling to pass my through the last Of midnight tendrils, or peruse thy In fear of sending off what cast Too for my insufficient mind To grasp the detail and retain The presence that image left behind thou in all thy glory should remain I fear my oversight I not mend For now upon I confess secretly I never did intend With long or surname rich to bless But rather let in my Run wild the thoughts of who perhaps you Before your soul demanded creation And deigned my mind and willing heart to For such a and impassioned face Could well be but newborn this sphere But sure a distant beauteous race Thou known more than all who dwelleth here And tell much of places thou hast seen And battles for honours won and lost And how each service done a Queen Becomes a jewel than it cost The ladies of your world, you may Desire to be over-graced Nor in the art Of living, where lips were meant to taste A of feline stealth they wear about them And while a flame of they hold In forests you fear to be without them For knights of maler kinds are so bold Yes, in thy orb a may be a knight (Thou knew'st a friend make upon this news) Without a loud or censure slight For lords are not afeared their stock to no stock may be taken or be kept No be granted, nor no bride No maiden may be stolen while she Nor robbed of her freedom to What suits her best. No county's law is To cut the weed of violence the stem No danger for the law to go For acts as these do not to them The gentlemen you are rarer still For in eyes, as in the depths of thine soft and thrilling mysteries fulfill The darkest corners of their heart's arrows, much like those I gave to thee Could not but the flank of yonder cow Without making him laugh. much to see Them tickling their prey. I not how They do encapture what they eat Save that perhaps their bright unfettered learned that what grows underneath their feet And in the above better sustains A life on living well tomorrow But how, I ask thee, most fiend Do lords and ladies where is no sorrow No to overcome, no soul uncleaned Of crushing ardor long out its stay, Betrothal to a less divine Than that who thy blushing breath away No hot kisses for to pine No heart affixed to age heart is young No ill intentioned to evade? "Still madam! Would'st kindly hold thy tongue!" Thou sayest. "Your has rash been made In living long in combat with your Thou see'st no other but these Thy hands are careworn that yet to find The hands that should hold them. Yet to please The hierarchy you serve unwitting Thou dost believe that love in grows That in love is not befitting But in thy sadness mak'st light of woes For even there ne'er a cloudy day No tempest to divide love had bound The galley which the holds in her sway Could not but stir the it finally found The wound is deeper than the sea about The stars my doublet you have drawn May my homeward path, but how, without me Wilt thou escape the fate thou on?" And in this way and my paper spoke O, fierce, savage, gentle bright Thou who I've given breath my soul has You had but not the right Could I but see the lips dare not breathe are so beautiful and pressing sweet Could I but touch the wings that Are made so soft thy heart forgets to Perhaps I have more for which to strive You came to my domain and brought For though I be the chastest heart 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 I would love? Dost thou believe That ere you came I was but disguise? I the murmur of music reveals The things no heart could comprehend I render'st thou for all that feels And to be thy lordship's faithful friend Yea, quiet as a did I wait I to thee my form to overtake I shivered at passing horse's gait And so I slept to suddenly Alas, my love, thou kiss me goodbye? The lingering night will aid on thy travels I'll craft but one more, a crow to fly Before to tell me how thy tale I say, thou art complete and to go What holds thee here one who lives no longer? For I have given thee the life you The I become, thou art the stronger And in your antique words clear intent Was once thou art gone I should dismay Quothe thee, "Your mistook me, for I meant To leave not but offerest to stay. For true, I did in my own realm Partake of pure love of which I told thee But be my guide and me at the helm And I shall, in the cloak you wrought, enfold And journey to the of all the earth For thou hast proved more and wise Than all we faeries, and stars are worth For live we not but living in eyes." Dear nameless knight, if thou would'st be own And leave thy dragons for a thou may'st Find in these arms within which thou hast A reason than the which thou say'st But with your hand you pointeth; I so And 'tis not to me, though I did draw it Which way thou intend for us to go in the mind it is of she who saw it Yet perhaps I made thee to discover one would do if one were asked to choose 'Tween back and forwards. Be thee or lover you were to be my favorite muse Thou feel'st thy fight but when you must Thou see'st the blade of below thy knee Use arrows against all you mistrust But when thou my way, aim one at me Your world is as ere it was before Your time my busy hand well spent made a thing I love; I ask no more And never redeem the heart I lent Me in my and thyself in thine Two petals on the and silent flower And evermore I'll welcome in mine Your dear was my finest hour