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LXXX.HALF A HEART.
I
Come, I will give thee half a heartIf that will do to love;
And if I gave thee all, dear friend,
It would but worthless prove.
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II
Thou art too good to see or knowThe ills that in me dwell:
It is most right to keep our faults
From those we love so well.
III
So then I warn thee, do not thinkMy fitful love untrue:
I have another, darker self,
Which thou must sometimes view.
IV
Men take me, change me if they may,And love me if they can;
Few can do that; few choose, like thee,
A double-hearted man.
V
My better self shall be thy friend,My worse self not thy foe,
And to love light in time perchance,
May make my darkness go.
VI
If I should seem to play thee false,Then pour thy love through prayer:
It is the fit; my better heart
Withdraws itself elsewhere.
VII
And weary not if I do stillNew light or gloom disclose:
What else in sooth can poets be
But men whom no one knows?
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