Alas, my love, if I could you live And from the page step and sit beside me Or still, bestride the steed I gave you Wrapped close within the cloak I lent to thee Perhaps I'd forth to ask thy name Since while thou underneath my pen That honour given which the claim was withheld. But if again I held captive as I did ere now Stalling to my fingers through the last Of midnight tendrils, or peruse thy In fear of off what heaven cast Too early for my mind To grasp the fullest detail and The presence that your left behind thou in all thy glory should remain I my oversight I would not mend For now reflection I confess secretly I never did intend With title long or surname to bless But let in my imagination Run the thoughts of who perhaps you were your soul demanded your creation And deigned my mind and willing to stir For such a and impassioned face Could well be but newborn unto sphere But sure among a beauteous race Thou hast more than all who dwelleth here And could tell much of places hast seen And battles fought for won and lost And how service done a faerie Queen Becomes a brighter jewel than it The ladies of your world, you may to be neither over-graced Nor in the art Of living, their lips were meant to taste A sort of feline stealth they about them And while a flame of they hold In dark you fear to be without them For knights of maler kinds are ne'er so Yes, in thy orb a may be a knight (Thou knew'st a friend would make this news) Without a whisper or censure slight For are not afeared their stock to lose no stock may be taken or be kept No be granted, nor no bride No maiden may be stolen she slept Nor robbed of her freedom to What suits her best. No county's law is To cut the weed of violence from the 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 depths of 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 tickling their prey. I know not how They ever do encapture they eat Save perhaps their bright unfettered brains Have learned 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 love where is no No to overcome, no soul uncleaned Of crushing ardor worn out its stay, Betrothal to a mortal less Than that who stole thy blushing breath No hot forbidden for to pine No heart affixed to age where is young No ill intentioned suitors to "Still madam! Would'st thou hold thy tongue!" sayest. "Your mistake has rash been made In living long in combat with your see'st no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn have yet to find The hands that first hold them. Yet to please The hierarchy which you serve Thou dost believe love in fighting grows That happiness in is not befitting But in thy sadness thou light of woes For even were there a cloudy day No tempest to divide love had bound The which the moon holds in her sway Could not but stir the peace it finally The wound is deeper than the sea thee The stars upon my you have drawn May light my path, but how, without me Wilt thou escape the fate tremblest on?" And in this way and my paper spoke O, fierce, savage, gentle beauty Thou who I've given breath my soul has You had authority but not the I but see the lips that dare not breathe They are so beautiful and pressing I but touch the wings that underneath Are made so soft thy heart forgets to Perhaps I should have more for to strive You came to my domain and despair For though I be the heart alive The realm you speak of will not me there Have you no pity? Can'st not perceive That I, a beast, had but the eyes To see where I would Dost thou believe ere you came I was but vain disguise? I know the of music reveals The things no heart could comprehend I render'st thou for all that feels And longed to be thy lordship's faithful Yea, quiet as a mushroom did I I willed to thee my form to I shivered at each passing horse's And so I to suddenly awake Alas, my love, thou kiss me goodbye? The lingering night will aid on thy travels craft but one thing more, a crow to fly Before to me how thy tale unravels I say, thou art complete and to go What holds thee here save one who no longer? For I have given the life you know The I become, thou art the stronger And in your antique words your intent Was that once art gone I should dismay thee, "Your thought mistook me, for I meant To thee not but offerest to stay. For true, I did in my own realm Partake of that pure love of I told thee But be my and with me at the helm And I shall, in the you wrought, enfold thee And journey to the of all the earth For thou hast more generous and wise Than all we faeries, and stars are worth For we not but living in your eyes." Dear knight, if thou would'st be mine own And leave thy dragons for a while may'st Find in these arms within which hast grown A better reason the which thou say'st But with your hand you swear I so And 'tis not to me, though I did draw it way thou 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 to be my favorite muse Thou feel'st thy armor; fight but you must Thou see'st the blade of truth below thy Use arrows all whom 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 and thyself in thine Two petals on the and silent flower And evermore welcome thee in mine dear creation was my finest hour