I LOVE my lover; on the heights above me He mocks my poor attainment with a frown. I, looking up as he is looking down, By his displeasure guess he still doth love me; For his ambitious love would ever prove me More excellent than I as yet am shown: So, straining for some good ungrasped, unknown, I vainly would become his image of me. And, reaching through the dreadful gulfs that sever Our souls, I strive with darkness nights and days, Till my perfected work tow'rds him I raise, Who laughs thereat, and scorns me more than ever; Yet his upbraiding is beyond all praise. This lover that I love I call: Endeavour. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INFANT SORROW, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE CAVALIER TUNES: BOOT AND SADDLE by ROBERT BROWNING SEVEN TIMES ONE [- CHILDHOOD. EXULTATION] by JEAN INGELOW IN STATE by BYRON FORCEYTHE WILLSON THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS YOUTH AND AGE by GEORGE ARNOLD EXTRACTS FROM VERSES WRITTEN FOR THE NEW YEAR, 1823 by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |