Alas, my love, if I make you live And from the page step and sit beside me Or better still, bestride the steed I you Wrapped close within the cloak I lent to hide Perhaps I'd venture to ask thy name while thou liest underneath my pen That honour given the poorest claim Unjustly was withheld. But if I held captive as I did ere now Stalling to pass my fingers through the Of tendrils, or peruse thy brow In of sending off what heaven cast Too early for my insufficient To grasp the fullest detail and The that your image left behind That thou in all thy glory should I my oversight I would not mend For now reflection I confess That I never did intend With title long or surname to bless But let in my imagination Run wild the of who perhaps you were Before your soul your creation And deigned my mind and heart to stir For a noble and impassioned face Could well be but newborn unto this But among a distant beauteous race Thou hast known more all who dwelleth here And could tell much of thou hast seen And battles for honours won and lost And how each service done a Queen a brighter jewel than it cost The ladies of your world, you may Desire to be neither Nor in the art Of living, where their lips meant to taste A sort of feline stealth they wear about And a flame of innocence they hold In forests dark you to be without 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 make this news) Without a whisper loud or slight For lords are not afeared stock to lose Where no stock may be or be kept No property be granted, nor no No maiden may be stolen she slept Nor robbed of her to decide suits her best. No county's law is needed To cut the weed of from the stem No danger for the law to go For as these do not occur to them The gentlemen you raise are rarer For in eyes, as in the depths of thine Such soft and thrilling fulfill The darkest corners of their design arrows, much like 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 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 living well But how, I ask thee, most fiend Do and ladies love where is no sorrow No strife to overcome, no soul Of crushing ardor long out its stay, to a mortal less divine Than that who thy blushing breath away No hot forbidden 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 your kind see'st no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn that yet to find The hands that first should them. Yet to please The hierarchy which you unwitting Thou dost believe that in fighting grows That happiness in is not befitting But in thy sadness thou mak'st light of For even were ne'er a cloudy day No tempest to divide love had bound The which the moon holds in her sway not but stir the peace it finally found The wound is than the sea about thee The stars upon my doublet you have May light my homeward path, but how, me Wilt thou the fate thou tremblest on?" And in way and more my paper spoke O, fierce, savage, beauty bright Thou who I've given breath my soul has You had but not the right I but see the lips that dare not breathe They are so and pressing sweet Could I but touch the that underneath Are made so soft thy forgets 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 speak of will not me there Have you no pity? thou not perceive That I, a blinded beast, had but the To see where I would Dost thou believe That ere you came I was but vain I the murmur of music reveals The things no human heart could I render'st thou for all that torment And to be thy lordship's faithful friend Yea, as a mushroom did I wait I willed to my form to overtake I at each passing horse's gait And so I slept to awake Alas, my love, wilt thou me goodbye? The lingering night aid thee on thy travels I'll but one thing more, a crow to fly to tell me how thy tale unravels I say, thou art and free to go What thee here save one who lives no longer? For I have given thee the life you The weaker I become, art the stronger And in your words your clear intent Was that once art gone I should dismay thee, "Your thought mistook me, for I meant To leave thee not but to stay. For true, I did in my own realm 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 hast proved more generous and wise Than all we faeries, moons and are worth For we not but living in your eyes." Dear nameless knight, if thou be mine own And leave thy dragons for a while may'st Find in arms within which 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 would do if one were to choose back and forwards. Be thee friend or lover Perhaps you to be my favorite muse Thou feel'st thy armor; fight but when you see'st the blade of truth below thy knee Use arrows all whom you mistrust But thou ride'st my way, aim one at me Your is yours as ere it was before Your beneath my busy hand well spent I've made a thing I love; I ask no And never redeem the heart I lent Me in my world and in thine Two on the same and silent flower And evermore welcome thee in mine dear creation was my finest hour