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A DEDICATION; TO CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN by SIDNEY LANIER

Poet Analysis

First Line: AS LOVE WILL CARVE DEAR NAMES UPON A TREE
Last Line: MAY LOOSE SOME LITTLE BALM, TO PLEAD FOR THEM.

AS Love will carve dear names upon a tree,
Symbol of gravure on his heart to be,
So thought I thine with loving text to set
In the growth and substance of my canzonet;
But, writing it, my tears begin to fall --
This wild-rose stem for thy large name's too small!
Nay, still my trembling hands are fain, are fain
Cut the good letters though they lap again;
Perchance such folk as mark the blur and stain
Will say, It was the beating of the rain;
Or, haply these o'er-woundings of the stem
May loose some little balm, to plead for them.



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