Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE'S REASON, by HENRY VAN DYKE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE'S REASON, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For that thy face is fair I love thee not
Last Line: When in her arms, and thine, I sink to rest.
Alternate Author Name(s): Civis Americanus
Subject(s): Love; Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals


FOR that thy face is fair I love thee not;
Nor yet because thy brown benignant eyes
Have sudden gleams of gladness and surprise,
Like woodland brooks that cross a sunlit spot:
Nor for thy body, born without a blot,
And loveliest when it shines with no disguise
Pure as the star of Eve in Paradise, --
For all these outward things I love thee not:

But for a something in thy form and face,
Thy looks and ways, of primal harmony;
A certain soothing charm, a vital grace
That breathes of the eternal womanly,
And makes me feel the warmth of Nature's breast,
When in her arms, and thine, I sink to rest.





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