Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE SPEAKETH, by RACHEL ANNAND TAYLOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE SPEAKETH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why hast thou given me these gyves to bear
Last Line: It is not well, o lord, it is not well!
Subject(s): God; Hearts; Love; Prayer


WHY hast Thou given me these gyves to bear,
And why this garment of white flame to wear?
Anhungered for immortal beauty, must
I feed my longing on this burning dust?
Loving the lilies, mid the tares I go,—
Why dost Thou plague Thy dearest angel so?
Cast in Thine image, moulded likest Thee,
Thy donzellon, Thy troubadour to be,
The dreamer of the rapture at the core
Of Thine own heart,—Oh! why, then, evermore
Must I pollute my fantasy unwist
With strange dim sin,—Love the Somnambulist,
Driven to sacrilege on mine adored?—
It is not well, it is not well, O Lord!
I yearn to Thee from out the blinding sands;
And lo! Thy stigmata upon mine hands.
Yet, as I pray, my feet take hold on hell.
It is not well, O Lord, it is not well!





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