 | The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder |  |
9
IV—WRITTEN ON A FLY-LEAF OF “SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS”
When shall true love be love without alloy—Shine free at last from sinful circumstance!
When shall the canker of unheavenly chance
Eat not the bud of that most heavenly joy!
When shall true love meet love not as a coy
Retreating light that leads a deathful dance,
But as a firm fixt fire that doth enhance
The beauty of all beauty! Will the employ
Of poets ever be too well to show
That mightiest love with sharpest pain doth writhe;
That underneath the fair, caressing glove
Hides evermore the iron hand; and tho'
Love's flower alone is good, if we would prove
Its perfect bloom, our breath slays like a scythe!
| The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder | |