I HAVE loved you, oh, how madly! I have wooed you softly, sadly, As the changeful years went by; Yet you kept your haughty distance, Yet you scorned my brave persistence, While the long, long years went by. Now that colder lovers leave you, Now that Fate and Time bereave you (For the cruel years @3will@1 fly), In your beauty's pale declension You would grace with condescension The love that touched you never When your bloom and hopes were high. Ah! but what if I discover That too long in antique fashion I have nursed a fruitless passion, Whose rage and reign (thank Heaven!) Are passed at length and over -- That fate hath locked forever love's golden Eden gate? There's a wrong beyond redressing, There's a prize not worth possessing, And a lady's condescension May come an hour @3too late!@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A STRANGE MEETING by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE RIVER-MERCHANT'S WIFE: A LETTER by LI PO THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE LADY POVERTY by ALICE MEYNELL AT A SOLEMN MUSIC by JOHN MILTON THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS by THOMAS MOORE |