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SONNET SEQUENCE: 3 by CONDE BENOIST PALLEN

First Line: WHAT IS TO LOVE? LET LOVE THE ANSWER GIVE
Last Line: THE LESSER YIELDING THAT THE GREATER LEARN TO LIVE.
Subject(s): LOVE - NATURE OF;

What is to love? Let Love the answer give:
It is to lose thyself, thyself to die,
And yet in dying find that thou dost live;
To spend thy being's breath upon a sigh,
And draw all joy where mostly thou dost grieve:
Yet in the breathing of thy life away
New life, more life the fond soul seems to gain;
And though each hope that comes, refuse to stay,
For all that go, a budding host remain.
To love is both to die and live again;
Unto thine other self thyself to give,
Surrendering all the good that thou mayst hold,
Losing thyself to find a hundred-fold,
The lesser yielding that the greater learn to live.



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