WHAT had I been, lost Love, if you had loved me? A woman, smiling as the smiling May, -- As gay of heart as birds that carol gaily Their sweet young songs to usher in the day -- As ardent as the skies that brood and brighten O'er the warm fields in summer's happy prime, -- As tender as the veiling grace that softens The harshest shapes in twilight's tender time. Like the soft dusk I would have veiled your harshness With tendernesses that were not your due, -- Your very faults had blossomed into virtues Had you known how to love me and be true. It had been well for you, -- for me how blessèd! But shall we ask the wind to blow for aye From one same quarter, -- keep at full for ever The white moon smiling in a changeless sky? Change is the law of wind and moon and lover, -- And yet, I think, lost Love, had you been true, Some golden fruits had ripened for your plucking You will not find in gardens that are new. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOOD-BYE DOROTHY GAYLE: HOME TO FARGO by KAREN SWENSON FOUR PRELUDES ON PLAYTHINGS OF THE WIND by CARL SANDBURG ADAM'S CURSE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THEN AND NOW by JEAN JACQUES ANTOINE AMPERE THE CLOISTER OF THE FALLING SNOW by SYLVIA HORTENSE BLISS CHINESE PICTURE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |