Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE FAIR UNKNOWN, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE FAIR UNKNOWN, by                    
First Line: To the fair unknown! These lines I dedicate
Last Line: To the fairest of the fair who's still unknown.
Subject(s): Longing; Love; Women


To the fair unknown! These lines I dedicate,
And if the gods of chance are very kind
And be at all towards me compassionate,
Perchance they may create some gentle wind
Which will, like balmy zephyrs from the south,
Bearing in their soft embrace the warm sun's kiss,
Whisper the words I fain would speak by mouth
To her, my only hope of earthly bliss.

It matters not that I as yet have never
Gazed with enraptured eyes upon her face,
My soul is filled with love which lives forever,
And none but she my throne of love will grace.
I see her in the flowers of the wildwood,
As pure as they when bathed in summer dew,
The charm and grace of sweet, unspotted childhood
Are yet unsullied in my mental view.

It matters not that I have never listened
To her sweet voice outpouring on the air,
For every song that ever love has christened
Creates a vision of my lady fair.
I hear her in the rippling, trilling water.
That laughs and dances in yon meadow brook,
And often have I in the greenwood sought her,
Deceived by song birds in some hidden nook.

I have reared to her an altar of devotion,
And inscribed it as Athenians of old
To the one who claims my loftiest emotion,
And is worthy of love's frankincense and gold.
And I'm waiting for some mighty Paul of learning
To declare the one that I would here enthrone,
To declare the love that in my heart is burning
To the fairest of the fair who's still unknown.





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