Alas, my love, if I make you live And from the page step forth and sit me Or better still, bestride the steed I you Wrapped close within the cloak I lent to thee 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 through the last Of midnight tendrils, or thy brow In fear of off what heaven cast Too early for my mind To grasp the detail and retain The presence that your image left That thou in all thy glory remain I my oversight I would not mend For now upon I confess That secretly I never did title long or surname rich to bless But rather let in my Run the thoughts of who perhaps you were Before soul demanded your creation And deigned my mind and heart to stir For a noble and impassioned face Could well be but newborn this sphere But sure among a distant beauteous Thou known more than all who dwelleth here And could tell much of places thou hast And fought for honours won and lost And how each service done a Queen a brighter jewel than it cost The ladies of world, you may impart Desire to be neither Nor in the art Of living, where their lips were to taste A sort of feline stealth they wear them And a flame of innocence they hold In forests dark you to be without them For knights of maler kinds are so bold Yes, in thy orb a maid may be a (Thou knew'st a friend would upon this news) Without a whisper or censure slight For are not afeared their stock to lose Where no may be taken or be kept No property be granted, nor no No may be stolen while she slept Nor of her freedom to decide suits her best. No county's law is needed To cut the weed of violence the stem No for the law to go unheeded For acts as these do not to them The gentlemen you raise are rarer For in their eyes, as in the of thine Such soft and mysteries fulfill The darkest corners of heart's design Their arrows, much like those I gave to Could not but the flank of yonder cow Without him laugh. 'Tis much to see Them tickling prey. I know not how They ever do what they eat Save perhaps their bright unfettered brains Have that what grows underneath their feet And in the trees above better A life intent on living tomorrow But how, I ask thee, endearing fiend Do lords and ladies where is no sorrow No to overcome, no soul uncleaned Of crushing ardor worn out its stay, to a mortal less divine Than that who stole thy blushing away No hot forbidden kisses for to No affixed to age where heart is young No ill intentioned to evade? "Still madam! Would'st thou kindly thy tongue!" Thou sayest. "Your mistake has rash been In living long in with your kind Thou no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn have yet to find The hands that should hold them. Yet to please The which you serve unwitting Thou dost believe love in fighting grows That happiness in love is not But in thy sadness thou mak'st of woes For even were ne'er a cloudy day No to divide what love had bound The galley the moon holds in her sway not but stir the peace it finally found The wound is deeper the sea about 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 who I've given breath my soul has broke You had but not the right Could I but see the that dare not breathe They are so and pressing sweet Could I but touch the that underneath Are made so soft thy heart forgets to Perhaps I should have more for which to You came to my and brought despair For I be the chastest heart alive The realm you speak of will not me there Have you no pity? Can'st thou not That I, a blinded beast, had but the To see I would love? Dost thou believe That ere you I was but vain disguise? I know the of music reveals The things no human heart could I render'st thou for all torment feels And longed to be thy lordship's friend Yea, quiet as a did I wait I willed to my form to overtake I at each passing horse's gait And so I to suddenly awake Alas, my love, thou kiss me goodbye? The lingering night aid thee on thy travels I'll but one thing more, a crow to fly Before to tell me how thy unravels I say, art complete and free to go What holds thee here one who lives no longer? For I have given thee the you know The weaker I become, thou art the And in your antique words your 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 me at the helm And I shall, in the you wrought, enfold thee And journey to the ends of all the For thou hast proved more generous and Than all we faeries, and stars are worth For live we not but living in eyes." nameless knight, if thou would'st be mine own And thy dragons for a while thou may'st Find in these arms within thou hast grown A better reason than the which thou But your hand you pointeth; swear I so And not plain to me, though I did draw it Which way dost intend for us to go Sure in the it is of she who saw it Yet perhaps I made thee to discover What one do if one were asked to choose back and forwards. Be thee friend or lover Perhaps you were to be my muse Thou feel'st thy armor; fight but you must see'st the blade of truth below thy knee Use arrows all whom you mistrust But when ride'st my way, aim one at me Your world is yours as ere it was Your beneath my busy hand well spent made a thing I love; I ask no more And shall redeem the heart I lent Me in my world and in thine Two petals on the same and flower And evermore I'll thee in mine dear creation was my finest hour