Alas, my love, if I could you live And from the page step forth and sit me Or better still, bestride the I gave you Wrapped close the cloak I lent to hide thee I'd venture forth to ask thy name Since while thou liest my pen honour given which the poorest claim Unjustly was withheld. But if I thee captive as I did ere now Stalling to my fingers through the last Of tendrils, or peruse thy brow In fear of sending off heaven cast Too early for my mind To grasp the fullest and retain The presence that your left behind thou in all thy glory should remain I fear my oversight I would not For now reflection I confess secretly I never did intend With title or surname rich to bless But rather let in my Run wild the of who perhaps you were Before your soul your creation And deigned my mind and willing to stir For a noble and impassioned face Could well be but newborn this sphere But sure among a beauteous race Thou known more than all who dwelleth here And could tell much of places thou seen And battles for honours won and lost And how service done a faerie Queen Becomes a brighter jewel it cost The of your world, you may impart Desire to be over-graced Nor in the art Of living, where lips were meant to taste A sort of feline stealth they about them And a flame of innocence they hold In forests dark you to be without them For knights of kinds are ne'er so bold Yes, in thy orb a may be a knight (Thou knew'st a friend would make this news) Without a whisper loud or 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 she slept Nor of her freedom to decide suits 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 these do not occur to The gentlemen you raise are rarer For in their eyes, as in the depths of Such soft and thrilling mysteries The darkest corners of their design Their arrows, like those I gave to thee Could not but graze the of yonder cow Without him laugh. 'Tis much to see tickling their prey. I know not how They ever do encapture what eat Save that perhaps their bright brains Have learned that what grows their feet And in the trees better sustains A life intent on well tomorrow But how, I ask thee, endearing fiend Do lords and ladies where is no sorrow No strife to overcome, no uncleaned Of crushing ardor long out its stay, to a mortal less divine Than that who stole thy blushing away No hot kisses for to pine No heart affixed to age where is young No ill intentioned suitors to "Still madam! thou kindly hold thy tongue!" Thou sayest. "Your has rash been made In living long in combat your kind see'st no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn that have yet to The that first should hold them. Yet to please The hierarchy which you serve Thou dost believe that in fighting grows That happiness in love is not But in thy sadness thou light of woes For even were there ne'er a day No tempest to divide what love had The galley the moon holds in her sway Could not but stir the peace it finally The wound is deeper than the sea thee The stars my doublet you have drawn 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 I've given breath my has broke You had but not the right I but see the lips that dare not breathe They are so beautiful and sweet I but touch the wings that underneath Are made so soft thy heart to beat Perhaps I should have more for which to You to my domain and brought despair For I be the chastest heart alive The realm you of will not take me there Have you no Can'st thou not perceive That I, a beast, had but the eyes To see where I love? Dost thou believe That ere you I was but vain disguise? I the murmur of music reveals The things no human could comprehend I render'st thou for all that feels 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 passing gait And so I slept to suddenly Alas, my love, wilt thou kiss me The lingering night will aid thee on thy I'll but one thing more, a crow to fly Before to tell me how thy unravels I say, thou art and free to go What holds thee here one who lives no longer? For I have given the life you know The I become, thou art the stronger And in your words your 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 never did in my own Partake of that pure love of I told thee But be my guide and with me at the And I shall, in the cloak you wrought, thee And journey to the of all the earth For thou hast proved generous and wise Than all we faeries, moons and stars are For we not but living in your eyes." Dear nameless knight, if thou be mine own And leave thy dragons for a thou may'st Find in these arms within thou hast grown A better reason the which thou say'st But your hand you pointeth; swear I so And 'tis not plain to me, though I did it Which way thou dost for us to go Sure in the it is of she who saw it Yet still I made thee to discover What one do if one were asked 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 blade of 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 beneath my busy well spent I've made a I love; I ask no more And never shall redeem the heart I Me in my world and thyself in Two on the same and silent flower And evermore I'll welcome thee in Your dear creation was my finest