Love never jests, though in his words at times He seems to laugh in folly's motley mood, And like a fool makes merry with stale rhymes To jangle down the plaints of solitude. Alas! his mirth is but a mask to hide The gnawing fire that 'neath this mummery glows; Though all seem fair upon the outward side, Within there dwell a host of warring woes. Despair with pallid front now seeks to drive Hope from the citadel, who fain would stay; And so these two in war contending strive, While gentle Love stands trembling at the fray: Come thou, fair Queen, and end this cruelty, For Love allegiance owes and pays alone to thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SOMEBODY LOVED ME by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON STREET CRIES: 6. TO RICHARD WAGNER by SIDNEY LANIER GEORGE MOORE by MARIANNE MOORE OLD OSAWATOMIE by CARL SANDBURG ASPIRATIONS OF A COUNTRY LAD by GEORGE SANTAYANA BEFORE A STATUE OF ACHILLES by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE CHAM TOWERS AT DA NANG by KAREN SWENSON EPISTLE IN FORM OF A BALLAD TO HIS FRIENDS by FRANCOIS VILLON |