 Alas
My love
If I could make you live
And from the page
Step forth and sit beside me
Or better still
Bestride the steed I gave you
Wrapped close within the cloak
I lent to hide thee
Perhaps I'd venture forth to ask thy name
Since while thou liest underneath my pen
That honour given
Which the poorest claim
Unjustly was withheld
But if again
I held thee captive
As I did ere now
Stalling to pass my fingers through the last
Of midnight tendrils
Or peruse thy brow
In fear of sending off what heaven cast
Too early
For my insufficient mind
To grasp the fullest detail
And retain
The presence
That your image left behind
That thou in all thy glory should remain
I fear my oversight
I would not mend
For now upon reflection
I confess
That secretly
I never did intend
With title long
Or surname rich
To bless
But rather
Let in my imagination
Run wild the thoughts of
Who perhaps you were
Before your soul
Demanded your creation
And deigned my mind
And willing heart to stir
For such a noble
And impassioned face
Could well be but
Newborn unto this sphere
But sure among a distant
Beauteous race
Thou hast known more than all who dwelleth here
And could tell much of places thou hast seen
And battles fought
For honours won and lost
And how each service
Done a faerie Queen
Becomes
A brighter jewel than it cost
The ladies of your world
You may impart
Desire to be neither
Over-graced
Nor underrepresented in the art
Of living
Where their lips were meant to taste
A sort of feline stealth
They wear about them
And while a flame of innocence they hold
In forests dark
You fear to be without them
For knights of maler kinds are ne'er so bold
Yes, in thy orb a maid may be a knight
(Thou knew'st a friend would make upon this news)
Without a whisper loud
Or censure slight
For lords are not afeared
Their stock to lose
Where no stock may be taken
Or be kept
No property be granted
Nor no bride
No maiden
May be stolen while she slept
Nor robbed of her freedom
To decide
What suits her best
No county's law is needed
To cut the weed of violence from the stem
No danger for the law to go unheeded
For acts as these
Do not occur to them
The gentlemen you raise
Are rarer still
For in their eyes, as in the depths of thine
Such soft
And thrilling mysteries fulfill
The darkest corners of their heart's design
Their arrows
Much like those I gave to thee
Could not but graze the flank of yonder cow
Without making him laugh
‘Tis much to see
Them tickling their prey
I know not
How
They ever do
Encapture what they eat
Save that perhaps
Their bright unfettered brains
Have learned that
What grows underneath their feet
And in the trees above
Better sustains
A life
Intent on living well tomorrow
But how
I ask thee
Most endearing fiend
Do lords and ladies love
Where is no
Sorrow
No strife to overcome
No soul uncleaned
Of crushing ardor
Long worn out its stay
Betrothal to a mortal less divine
Than that who stole thy blushing breath away
No hot
Forbidden kisses for to pine
No heart affixed to age
Where heart is young
No ill intentioned suitors to evade?
“Still madam!
Would'st thou kindly hold thy tongue”
Thou sayest
“Your mistake has rash been made
In living long
In combat with your kind
Thou see'st no other obstacle but these
Thy hands are careworn
Yet to find
The hands that first should hold them
Yet to please the hierarchy
Which you serve unwitting
Thou dost believe that love in fighting grows
That happiness
In love
Is not befitting
But in thy sadness
Thou mak'st light of woes
For even were there ne'er a cloudy day
No tempest
To divide what love had bound
The galley
Which the moon holds in her sway
Could not but stir
The peace it finally found
The wound is deeper than the sea about thee
The stars upon my doublet
You have drawn
May light my homeward path
But how
Without me
Wilt thou escape the fate
Thou tremblest on?”
And in this way
And more my paper spoke
O, fierce, savage
Gentle beauty bright
Thou who I've given breath
My soul has broke
You had authority
But not the right
Could I but see the lips
That dare not breathe
They are so beautiful
And pressing sweet
Could I but touch the wings that underneath
Are made so soft
Thy heart forgets to beat
Perhaps I should have more
For which to strive
You came to my domain
And brought despair
For though I be the chastest heart alive
The realm you speak of
Will not take me there
Have you no pity?
Can'st thou not perceive
That I, a blinded beast
Had but the eyes
To see where I would love?
Dost thou believe
That ere you came
I was but vain disguise?
I know the murmur of music reveals
The things no human heart could comprehend
I render'st thou for all that torment feels
And longed to be thy lordship's
Faithful friend
Yea, quiet as a mushroom
Did I wait
I willed to thee my form
To overtake
I shivered at each passing horse's gait
And so I slept
To suddenly awake
Alas
My love
Wilt thou kiss me goodbye
The lingering night
Will aid thee on thy travels
I'll craft but one thing more
A crow to fly
Before t
T tell me how thy tale unravels
I say, thou art complete and free to go
What holds thee here save one who lives no longer
For I have given thee the life you know
The weaker I become
Thou art the stronger
And in your antique words your clear intent
Was that once thou art gone
I should dismay
Quothe thee
“Your thought mistook me
For I meant
To leave thee not
But offerest to stay
For true
I never did in my own realm
Partake of that pure love of which I told thee
But be my guide
And with me at the helm
And I shall in the cloak you wrought
Enfold thee
And journey to the ends
Of all the earth
For thou hast proved more generous and wise
Than all we faeries
Moons and stars are worth
For live we not
But living in your eyes”
Dear nameless knight
If thou would'st be mine own
And leave thy dragons for a while
Thou may'st
Find in these arms within which
Thou hast grown
A better reason than that which thou say'st
But with your hand you pointeth
Swear I so
And ‘tis not plain to me
Though I did draw it
Which way thou dost intend for us to go
Sure in the mind it is
Of she who saw it
Yet still perhaps
I made thee to discover
What one would do
If one were asked to choose
‘Tween back and forwards
Be thee friend
Or lover
Perhaps
You were to be
My favorite muse
Thou feel'st thy armor
Fight
But when you must
Thou see'st the blade of truth
Below thy knee
Use arrows against all
Whom you mistrust
But when thou ride'st my way
Aim one at me
Your world is yours
As ere it was before
Your time beneath my busy hand
Well spent
I've made a thing I love
I ask
No more
And never shall redeem the heart I lent
Me in my world
And thyself in thine
Two petals
On the same and silent flower
And evermore
I'll welcome thee in mine
Your dear creation
Was my finest hour
|
Switch to Russian 