Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FAITHFUL LOVER, by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FAITHFUL LOVER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All beauty is but thee in echo-shapes
Last Line: For each thus makes me more and more thy lover.
Subject(s): Fidelity; Faithfulness; Constancy


ALL beauty is but thee in echo-shapes,
No lovely thing but echoes some of thee,
Vainly some touch of thy perfection apes,
Sighing as fair as thou thyself to be;
Therefore, be not disquieted that I
On other forms turn oft my wandering gaze,
Nor deem it anywise disloyalty:
Nay! 'tis the pious fervour of my eye,
That seeks thy face in every other face.
As in the mirrored salon of a queen,
Flashes from glass to glass, as she walks by,
In sweet reiteration still -- the queen!
So is the world for thee to walk in, sweet;
But to see thee is all things to have seen.
And, as the moon in every crystal lake,
Walking the heaven with little silver feet,
Sees each bright copy her reflection take,
And every dew-drop holds its little glass,
To catch her loveliness as she doth pass,
So do all things make haste to copy thee.
I, then, to see thee thus over and over,
Am wistful too all lovely shapes to see,
For each thus makes me more and more thy lover.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net