IF he should come to me to-day In the strong beauty of his youth, Profuse of hope and rich in truth, -- If he should come to me and say: "Give me your love! Of womankind "On you and you alone I call!" I could but answer, "Dear and blind, "What more is left for my bestowing? "Without your asking or your knowing "Have I not given all?" AND should he come to me some day When withered listless leaves are blown, Where I had waited long alone; If he should come to me and say: "Give me your love for charity; "My dreams are squandered everywhere. "My famished hopes fall dead from me "Like the dull harvest of the air. "I seek no longer joy, but rest -- "Brief peace upon a kindly breast "Till my tired heart is quiet clay." I could but say, "Love, while you live, "My love is neither mine to give "Nor mine to take away." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN: 32 by CECIL DAY LEWIS IN THE NEOLITHIC AGE by RUDYARD KIPLING RUNNING THE BATTERIES by HERMAN MELVILLE SONG OF THE ANGELS AT THE NATIVITY by NAHUM TATE THE DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |