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Sonnets : a sequence on profane love by George Henry Boker

Boker, George H. (1823-1890)

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SONNETS
 1. 
[I. When to his class the surgeon's skilful blade]
 2. 
[II. To say I love thee, is but uttering]
 3. 
[III. As a lorn sailor clinging to the wreck]
 4. 
[IV. One hope survives; but that, like the sole sun]
 5. 
[V. My heart is sad today; I know not why]
 6. 
[VI. Lone echoes from the dim cloud-covered shore]
 7. 
[VII. I am Love's thrall and vassal. Though I wear]
 8. 
[VIII. O weary watches of the dismal night]
 9. 
[IX. And does she love me now as yesterday?]
 10. 
[X. A shame arose betwixt my Love and me]
 11. 
[XI. If I should perish e'er I pen this line]
 12. 
[XII. Why sing forever in this mournful way]
 13. 
[XIII. Perhaps in mercy is the future masked]
 14. 
[XIV. O Love, I leave thee all that I hold dear]
 15. 
[XV. Where is my merit? By what special grace]
 17. 
[XVII. Too full of rapture was this sunny day]
 18. 
[XVIII. O heart, be not bewildered with delight]
 19. 
[XIX. Why should I love? Why lay my heart before]
 20. 
[XX. O sacred head that felt her queenly hand]
 21. 
[XXI. Sometimes I fear thou'lt poise my muse's praise]
 22. 
[XXII. Some hearts prevail by action; some have skill]
 23. 
[XXIII. I have thy love, and were I drunk with joy]
 24. 
[XXIV. Farewell once more,—and yet again farewell]
 25. 
[XXV. The leaden eyelids of wan twilight close]
 26. 
[XXVI. When we two parted, on a summer day]
 27. 
[XXVII. My darling, now the slumber of the night]
 28. 
[XXVIII. In the deep cloister of the night, a nun]
 29. 
[XXIX. As Cleopatra's pearl dissolved in wine]
 30. 
[XXX. When all the labors of the day are past]
 31. 
[XXXI. “And miss the way to heaven!” My closing word]
 32. 
[XXXII. The waves of busy life that whirling go]
 33. 
[XXXIII. As some new ghost, that wanders to and fro]
 34. 
[XXXIV. My length in earth would now contain me all]
 35. 
[XXXV. I know, O Lord, the summer fields are green]
 36. 
[XXXVI. If dreaming of thee be a waste of time]
 37. 
[XXXVII. Time masks, but cannot bound my love for thee]
 38. 
[XXXVIII. The swell and glitter of this stately stave]
 39. 
[XXXIX. Sometimes when loitering by the bitter shore]
 40. 
[XL. Beneath the stars and yonder waning moon]
 41. 
[XLI. To say my Love is beautiful, to praise]
 42. 
[XLII. If she should give me all I ask of her]
 43. 
[XLIII. The beams of morning flicker round my face]
 44. 
[XLIV. I cannot tell what cause dissolved my dream]
 45. 
[XLV. When I look back upon my early days]
 46. 
[XLVI. Today the lady of my heart was born]
 47. 
[XLVII. Hail! dearest day of all the storied year]
 48. 
[XLVIII. Oh! I have touched the blazing crown of bliss]
 49. 
[XLIX. Erewhile I lived in shows and hollow masks]
 50. 
[L. This is the perfect crown of all things here]
 51. 
[LI. Leander swimming towards the Mysian shore]
 52. 
[LII. In truth, Love, but a single hope remains]
 53. 
[LIII. I am already entered on the way]
 54. 
[LIV. If I have served my God with faithful soul]
 55. 
[LV. I strive to live my life in whitest truth]
 56. 
[LVI. The lagging days crawl slowly to their end]
 57. 
[LVII. Although the story of our love be lost]
 58. 
[LVIII. Our hearts are like two night-bound, shipwrecked barks]
 59. 
[LIX. If I am never merry when my brow]
 60. 
[LX. When, Love, I sing of thee, such little cares]
 61. 
[LXI. When I remember, Love, the happy hours]
 62. 
[LXII. This love of mine is no light thing, no toy]
 63. 
[LXIII. Dear Lord, this sense of supernatural power]
 64. 
[LXIV. Roll the grand harmonies which finite mind]
 65. 
[LXV. Is love a pleasure or a pain in mask]
 66. 
[LXVI. Tonight I walked with the grim Florentine]
 67. 
[LXVII. To watch the night out is a dreary thing]
 68. 
[LXVIII. When last I saw my darling's wondrous eyes]
 69. 
[LXIX. I cannot tell what charms my lady finds]
 70. 
[LXX. My lady's senses are so pure and fine]
 71. 
[LXXI. I am ashamed through this thick husk of clay]
 72. 
[LXXII. Ah! could I grow in some remote degree]
 73. 
[LXXIII. The satyr nature riots in my blood]
 74. 
[LXXIV. I was love's toy and froward instrument]
 75. 
[LXXV. So dainty white my lady's fancies are]
 76. 
[LXXVI. I have a faith that love can do as much]
 77. 
[LXXVII. Thus in her absence is my fancy cool]
 78. 
[LXXVIII. So many changing phases have I known]
 79. 
[LXXIX. Oh! sigh no more, no longer paint the air]
 80. 
[LXXX. From this wide outlook on art's lonely peak]
 81. 
[LXXXI. Is this the best art offers to her slave]
 82. 
[LXXXII. I sometimes feel so lonely! O my God]
 83. 
[LXXXIII. I, like thy shadow, am a part of thee]
 84. 
[LXXXIV. Sweet, when thy brow becomes the haunted spot]
 85. 
[LXXXV. I know not if one beauty less or more]
 86. 
[LXXXVI. In famed Sakoontala I read tonight]
 87. 
[LXXXVII. On my heart's altar when youth's fire burned low]
 88. 
[LXXXVIII. To be forever thus alone with thee]
 89. 
[LXXXIX. Today her Majesty was wroth and cold]
 90. 
[XC. I wonder if these sonnets which I sing]
 91. 
[XCI. When this warm hand is cold in death, and all]
 92. 
[XCII. The crocus opened slowly yesterday]
 93. 
[XCIII. Death clutches at my darling now and then]
 94. 
[XCIV. When on the splendor of thy shining head]
 95. 
[XCV. Death on his mission sought my lady's side]
 96. 
[XCVI. I hear thy summons, grizzly messenger]
 97. 
[XCVII. Against the changes of obsequious time]
 98. 
[XCVIII. Within this realm, sweet Lady, thou art queen]
 99. 
[XCIX. There shines a leaf on every slender spray]
 100. 
[C. For life and death to me are so akin]
 101. 
[CI. I love you with each fibre of this frame]
 102. 
[CII. My Darling's temper is beyond compare]
 103. 
[CIII. Parted again! Shall partings never cease?]
 104. 
[CIV. Sad is it that a love as pure as thine]
 105. 
[CV. If thou art sinful, there are thousands then]
 106. 
[CVI. King Midas, walking through his realm of old]
 107. 
[CVII. Now I have won my lady's priceless heart]
 108. 
[CVIII. Yes, everywhere some precious flower of God]
 109. 
[CIX. More than mere instinct, straight against the scope]
 110. 
[CX. For many days my heart has stood unchanged]
 111. 
[CXI. A vision of my lady came to me]
 112. 
[CXII. Gone, gone! The rayless window sheds no light]
 113. 
[CXIII. Whither, thou glory of thy gentle race]
 114. 
[CXIV. Of all the dreams I dreamed in bygone years]
 115. 
[CXV. Oh spring, that hides the wrinkled earth in green]
 116. 
[CXVI. I shall not flatter that gross mass of sin]
 117. 
[CXVII. Within the circle of my darling's charms]
 118. 
[CXVIII. My dearest, trust me! I may err and fail]
 119. 
[CXIX. If history, that feeds upon the past]
 120. 
[CXX. The dreary shadows round my heart tonight]
 121. 
[CXXI. Does not the round in which my numbers plod]
 122. 
[CXXII. If this be sorrow, I have never known]
 123. 
[CXXIII. I do not love her! So my Lady says]
 124. 
[CXXIV. I do not love thee! What vile act of mine]
 125. 
[CXXV. The moon hath touched my lady's restless brain]
 126. 
[CXXVI. If in the liking of thine eye to live]
 127. 
[CXXVII. A sadder word I never uttered yet]
 128. 
[CXXVIII. “Grieve not the heart that loves thee!” In a ring]
 129. 
[CXXIX. The dreadful vision of my fears has burst]
 130. 
[CXXX. Stand fast amidst the darkness! Ah! my dear]
 131. 
[CXXXI. Trial on trial we must meet and brave]
 132. 
[CXXXII. Love has no triumph and no future crown]
 133. 
[CXXXIII. Closer and closer draw thou to my side]
 134. 
[CXXXIV. They cannot part us. With this power of song]
 135. 
[CXXXV. I never wished for wings as yesternight]
 136. 
[CXXXVI. Except these flights of song, I nothing have]
 137. 
[CXXXVII. Ever a darkness somewhere in the sun]
 138. 
[CXXXVIII. About myself a shadow I have wrapped]
 139. 
[CXXXIX. How can I say I ever am alone]
 140. 
[CXL. Welcome, thou added sum of all delights]
 141. 
[CXLI. What sorry mark of nature can there be]
 142. 
[CXLII. I have been false for thy repose alone]
 143. 
[CXLIII. I know the days are heavy on thy hands]
 144. 
[CXLIV. For thy dear safety, not for mine own ease]
 145. 
[CXLV. 'Tis hard, 'tis hard, but it must be endured]
 146. 
[CXLVI. If it console thee, Sweet, to be aware]
 147. 
[CXLVII. I but half uttered what I purposed, dear]
 148. 
[CXLVIII. They who have heard my song esteem the strain]
 149. 
[CXLIX. If not the painter's nor the sculptor's skill]
 150. 
[CL. Let the world's people hiss at us! I meet]
 151. 
[CLI. I could not hope that one so rarely fair]
 152. 
[CLII. Clamber again into thy midday place]
 153. 
[CLIII. You say my Love no marvel is to you]
 154. 
[CLIV. I cannot say my lady is to you]
 155. 
[CLV. Heavy and dark, with gusts of spiteful snow]
 156. 
[CLVI. Out on the heart that has not faith enough]
 157. 
[CLVII. A noble woman! One who can forgive]
 158. 
[CLVIII. I raise this mantling beaker to my lip]
 159. 
[CLIX. Oh! what a hollow and a bootless thing]
 160. 
[CLX. The way I walk, an angel of God's throne]
 161. 
[CLXI. I never courted miser, fool or knave]
 162. 
[CLXII. If it has been the misery of my fate]
 163. 
[CLXIII. “O for my sake do you with fortune chide”]
 164. 
[CLXIV. I pity him, unhappy gentleman]
 165. 
[CLXV. As stands a statue on its pedestal]
 166. 
[CLXVI. Less in myself than thee do I believe]
 167. 
[CLXVII. When at confession by thy knee I kneel]
 168. 
[CLXVIII. If I were able to disclose thy charms]
 169. 
[CLXIX. Should I portray thee merely as I can]
 170. 
[CLXX. Yes, I could trust, forever and a day]
 171. 
[CLXXI. I trust my love for thee may expiate]
 172. 
[CLXXII. Within my mind I keep a holy plot]
 173. 
[CLXXIII. The thoughts that snarl about my heels by day]
 174. 
[CLXXIV. Some one within my hearing said tonight]
 175. 
[CLXXV. Nothing is stable. Though the deeds we do]
 176. 
[CLXXVI. Since that which issues from the sovereign head]
 177. 
[CLXXVII. Idle I am, if it be idleness]
 178. 
[CLXXVIII. The fane I build on this foundation stone]
 179. 
[CLXXIX. I do not falter in the sight of God]
 180. 
[CLXXX. There are more ways to heaven than mortals know]
 181. 
[CLXXXI. Spring blows her fruitful breath, and swiftly curls]
 182. 
[CLXXXII. It seems to mock me: all this heat and bloom]
 183. 
[CLXXXIII. I know that every note and chord of woe]
 184. 
[CLXXXIV. If sorry music on this lute were played]
 185. 
[CLXXXV. Hard is the fortune that has cast thy lot]
 186. 
[CLXXXVI. Some man will one day tell a passing friend]
 187. 
[CLXXXVII. Climb glory's ladder to the topmost height]
 188. 
[CLXXXVIII. My darling's features, painted by the light]
 189. 
[CLXXXIX. Another picture of my Love I have]
 190. 
[CXC. If I die now, I have not lived in vain]
 191. 
[CXCI. Absence from thee is something worse than death]
 192. 
[CXCII. To thee I oft have boasted, in my pride]
 193. 
[CXCIII. I wonder, Darling, if there does not wear]
 194. 
[CXCIV. Three seasons only in his calendar]
 195. 
[CXCV. Against mischances I have shut my ear]
 196. 
[CXCVI. My stain of earth hath mingled with the stream]
 197. 
[CXCVII. Go count the violets on April's breast]
 198. 
[CXCVIII. When mateless Adam loitered in the shade]
 199. 
[CXCIX. What spirit worthy of its noble birth]
 200. 
[CC. If we were fashioned to be ignorant]
 201. 
[CCI. Within our lips is stored the bitterness]
 202. 
[CCII. Love stirs the pulses of my deeper thought]
 203. 
[CCIII. Night takes the scepter from the hand of day]
 204. 
[CCIV. If Grecian Helen pleaded with the tongue]
 205. 
[CCV. For what to me were Helen's honeyed word]
 206. 
[CCVI. When men distrust me, not because they find]
 207. 
[CCVII. This fellow calls me sordid, that one poor]
 208. 
[CCVIII. Speed on thy solemn pilgrimage, O Earth]
 209. 
[CCIX. When first I met thee, as thou know'st, I stood]
 210. 
[CCX. Amidst the lottery of days I draw]
 211. 
[CCXI. I cannot liken thee to any flower]
 212. 
[CCXII. Cast on the lily's cheek the rose's glow]
 213. 
[CCXIII. White as this paper was my lady's mind]
 214. 
[CCXIV. Like to an aged poet who reviews]
 215. 
[CCXV. Even as the level sunlight glorifies]
 216. 
[CCXVI. “I write too coldly and I write too much!”]
 217. 
[CCXVII. These gusts of passion blown in many a mood]
 218. 
[CCXVIII. The present only do we hold in thrall]
 219. 
[CCXIX. If beauty is not an immortal thing]
 220. 
[CCXX. Shall I not know thee in the life to be]
 221. 
[CCXXI. If sin be punished, or be purged away]
 222. 
[CCXXII. Saint Paul has said this mortal shall arise]
 223. 
[CCXXIII. I cannot think thou would'st forget me even]
 224. 
[CCXXIV. I heard today that one, who sometime reigned]
 225. 
[CCXXV. She who gives all, and yet withholds her heart]
 226. 
[CCXXVI. Why should I fret the passion of this string]
 227. 
[CCXXVII. O World, I owe thee nothing; I have had]
 228. 
[CCXXVIII. Yet not because the world turns coldly by]
 229. 
[CCXXIX. This is a sorry ending to a thing]
 230. 
[CCXXX. When I review the long procession gone]
 231. 
[CCXXXI. Never, dear season, shall I tire to sing]
 232. 
[CCXXXII. Now infant nature, just awaking, lies]
 233. 
[CCXXXIII. Half that we learn is wisdom of the heart]
 234. 
[CCXXXIV. A torpid season once in every year]
 235. 
[CCXXXV. O gentle frenzy, too supreme delight]
 236. 
[CCXXXVI. When I consider what a time has flown]
 237. 
[CCXXXVII. To hold a station on the trembling earth]
 238. 
[CCXXXVIII. Well, after all the prattle buzzed around]
 239. 
[CCXXXIX. Love is our all in all! I solemnly]
 240. 
[CCXL. So long have paused the strings across my lute]
 241. 
[CCXLI. There is no greater sorrow, Dante said]
 242. 
[CCXLII. Sweet sorceress, dear foe to every gift]
 243. 
[CCXLIII. O let me break my slavehood! Link by link]
 244. 
[CCXLIV. I do not merit it that thou shouldst stir]
 245. 
[CCXLV. I cannot tell thee, Sweet, what tenderness]
 246. 
[CCXLVI. This comfort only have I in my woes]
 247. 
[CCXLVII. Love is the source of all my griefs, 'tis true]
 248. 
[CCXLVIII. Sometimes I see, in dreams astray from sleep]
 249. 
[CCXLIX. I cannot tell thee when my heart began]
 250. 
[CCL. As here I sit and dally with the pen]
 251. 
[CCLI. When with the courage lent me by thy smile]
 252. 
[CCLII. I play the masquer to the world, I grant]
 253. 
[CCLIII. Falsehood to thee would be the blackest crime]
 254. 
[CCLIV. Yes, true to thee, if false to all beside]
 255. 
[CCLV. If it be sin, as rigid men aver]
 256. 
[CCLVI. Know you a soul so white and inly pure]
 257. 
[CCLVII. They at the altar pledge their formal vow]
 258. 
[CCLVIII. Sing of her beauty! Sing of that which grows]
 259. 
[CCLIX. O, I am apt of others' charms to sing]
 260. 
[CCLX. The pearly vales that circled round her breast]
 261. 
[CCLXI. She on the jealous gods' Olympian hill]
 262. 
[CCLXII. The love of this dear woman is so sweet]
 263. 
[CCLXIII. I will not have our holy love profaned]
 264. 
[CCLXIV. Once as I slumbered, with my heart awake]
 265. 
[CCLXV. The color of my lady's hair is brown]
 266. 
[CCLXVI. My darling's brow is classic, low and wide]
 267. 
[CCLXVII. Her eyes are of that pure and perfect grey]
 268. 
[CCLXVIII. Heaven shaped her ear in fashioning the shell]
 269. 
[CCLXIX. Her nose is not the rigid Phidian line]
 270. 
[CCLXX. Her mouth, that scarlet herald of her heart]
 271. 
[CCLXXI. Her face is perfect oval, one long sweep]
 272. 
[CCLXXII. A marvel to me is my lady's hand]
 273. 
[CCLXXIII. Her prudish foot, seen rarely as a nun]
 274. 
[CCLXXIV. Such of her beauties as the world may see]
 275. 
[CCLXXV. Thus gracious ever is my darling's mind]
 276. 
[CCLXXVI. A golden circle for my lady's hand]
 277. 
[CCLXXVII. If any comfort lies within the zone]
 278. 
[CCLXXVIII. There blew a breeze across the flowers, that said]
 279. 
[CCLXXIX. Again I touch thee, vexing instrument]
 280. 
[CCLXXX. Ah, lute, how well I know each tone of thee]
 281. 
[CCLXXXI. Hark! in that tone I heard my lady sigh]
 282. 
[CCLXXXII. 'Tis not in hollow wood and tinkling wire]
 283. 
[CCLXXXIII. Fairest of all the fair ones I have seen]
 284. 
[CCLXXXIV. Darling, I kiss thee from thy slender feet]
 285. 
[CCLXXXV. How shall I sing of thee, thyself who art]
 286. 
[CCLXXXVI. I touched the limit of supremest bliss]
 287. 
[CCLXXXVII. When distance severs us, and we become]
 288. 
[CCLXXXVIII. O, I adjure thee, keep my words in mind]
 289. 
[CCLXXXIX. This was my lady's birthday, and yet I]
 290. 
[CCXC. O happy day! From morn till midnight tolled]
 291. 
[CCXCI. Sweet is my lady's body; damask rose]
 292. 
[CCXCII. Beloved, thou cam'st to me of late and said]
 293. 
[CCXCIII. As from his wrist the eager falconer]
 294. 
[CCXCIV. What hast thou done, my Darling, these two days?]
 295. 
[CCXCV. My own Beloved, wilt thou prove true indeed]
 296. 
[CCXCVI. I love thee, love thee! Let these words atone]
 297. 
[CCXCVII. O say thou lovest me; say it o'er again]
 298. 
[CCXCVIII. Tonight I saw my darling, bathed in light]
 299. 
[CCXCIX. My darling, O my darling, let me gaze]
 300. 
[CCC. Darling, to say I love thee, is to say]
 301. 
[CCCI. Mere love, the common commerce of the earth]
 302. 
[CCCII. My lady's birthday rises golden fair]
 303. 
[CCCIII. I bend and kiss thee; 'tis a little thing]
 304. 
[CCCIV. Thy birthday opened with artillery]
 305. 
[CCCV. In lingering winter was my darling born]
 306. 
[CCCVI. Thy birthday ends a year of grief and pain]
 307. 
[CCCVII. These blows of fate that shake our troubled life]
 308. 
[CCCVIII. Love sat at ease upon Time's bony knee]
 309. 
[CCCIX. The years repeat themselves; and now, once more]
 310. 
[CCCX. I mark not seasons by the calendar]
 311. 
[CCCXI. Like to a flock of birds, the flying days]
 312. 
[CCCXII. Another year has passed us, while the earth]
 313. 
[CCCXIII. By thy own truth, Beloved, I am true!]

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102

[CLXX. Yes, I could trust, forever and a day]

Yes, I could trust, forever and a day,
Thy constant heart to any worldling's wiles,
Surround thy senses with the lies and guiles
That hiss and gender in the truth's decay.
I know the nature of thy taintless clay,
The mystic candor of thy vestal smiles
Thy soul of fire, consuming what defiles,
Yet, flame-pure, mounting on its heavenly way.
Why should thy breath of precious spice and myrrh,
Devour the sin and garbage of the land,
Serving the purpose of the hangman's brand?
No; let me find some nobler use for her,
Build her a temple, far from public stir,
And by her altar take my public stand.
March 23, 1865
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