Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SUMMER NIGHT; VARIATIONS ON CERTAIN MELODIES: 4. CAPRICCIOSO, by BAYARD TAYLOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SUMMER NIGHT; VARIATIONS ON CERTAIN MELODIES: 4. CAPRICCIOSO, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Nay, nay! The longings tender
Last Line: So caught, is held to my impatient heart!
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Earth; Fear; Life; World


Nay, nay! the longings tender,
The fear, the marvel, and the mystery,
The shy, delicious dread, the unreserved surrender,
Give, if thou canst, to me!
For I would be,
In this expressive languor,
While night conceals, the wooed and not the wooer;
Shaken with supplication, keen as anger;
Pursued, and thou pursuer!
Plunder my bosom of its hoarded fire, And so assail me,
That coy denial fail me,
Slain by the mirrored shape of my desire!
Though life seem overladen
With conquered bliss, it only craves the more:
Teach me the other half of passion's lore --
Be thou the man, and I the maiden!
Ah! come,
While earth is waiting, heaven is dumb,
And blossom-sighs
So penetrate the indolent air,
The very stars grow fragrant in the skies!
Arise,
And thine approach shall make me fair,
Thy borrowed pleading all too soon subdue me,
Till both forget the part
And she who failed to woo me,
So caught, is held to my impatient heart!





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