I HAD no culture for my love, Hungrily my heart cried: "Knowledge, be my master, Turn, brain, O faster. Grind the seeds of wisdom fine, Till no mind be wise as mine, At my wit in smiting Men will smile delighting. 'Tis not too quick for craft, or Not too keen for laughter." Wise for love's sweet sake to be Surely is no vanity. I had no fairness for my love. Hungrily my heart cried: "Beauty, be my handmaid! Leave me unafraid, That another glass have shown Fair a face as hath my own." So the early morning Found me still adorning, Going from the glass with pride, Coming back unsatisfied. Vain for love's sweet sake to be Surely is no vanity. Lo! my love was not my love. Stonily my heart cried: "Take a fool for master, Turn, brain, O faster, While the jingling bells repeat Much the chaff and little wheat. Behind a pair of soul-lit eyes You a soul would fain surprise. Non ewise as he you ne'er could know, Because a sweet tongue tells you so. All his deeds were done before; All his thoughts a borrowed store. Said I, "He is heaven-sent With his thinking brows so bent," This false light that made my day Was the sun's reflected ray, Dancing broken on the wave Of ignorance, nor can I save One tossing spark of foolish light To make a beacon for my night. Blind for love's sweet sake to be, Seeing is a misery." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 45 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI REBECCA'S HYMN, FR. IVANHOE by WALTER SCOTT SONNET: 107 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE TO JANE: THE RECOLLECTION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY JOHN CHARLES FREMONT by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |