YOU take a town you cannot keep; And, forced in turn to fly, O'er ruins you have made shall leap Your deadliest enemy! Her love is yours -- and be it so -- But can you keep it? No, no, no! Upon her brow we gaz'd with awe, And lov'd, and wish'd to love, in vain But when the snow begins to thaw We shun with scorn the miry plain. Women with grace may yield: but she Appear'd some Virgin Deity. Bright was her soul as Dian's crest Whitening on Vesta's fane its sheen: Cold look'd she as the waveless breast Of some stone Dian at thirteen. Men lov'd: but hope they deem'd to be A sweet Impossibility! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLIND by EDGAR LEE MASTERS NIGHTS WITHOUT SLEEP by SARA TEASDALE EPITAPH (ON A COMMONPLACE PERSON WHO DIED IN BED) by AMY LEVY TWILIGHT by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LOVE AND SLEEP by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE LONELY STREET by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS |