 | The Creed of My Heart and Other Poems |  |
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AMOR FONS AMORIS
I
I love all men the better, O love! for loving thee:The dear ones whom I cherish are dearer still to me:
Each stranger is my kinsman; and ever, for thy sake,
Belovèd! at love's bidding, new springs of love awake.
II
I love all things the better for loving thee the best:My thoughts of thee make deeper the glories of the West:
My hopes of thee make fresher the fragrance of the spring:
And when thine accents haunt me the birds more sweetly sing.
III
I love the whole world better for loving thee so well:Love tells my soul the secret which tongue may never tell:
I learn, when thou art near me, that loss is more than gain,
That not a pang is wasted, that not a hope is vain.
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VI
Even Love,—the dream, the vision, that floods the world with light,—Lit by the flame thou kindlest, grows more divinely bright:
His beauty wins new beauty from shining through thine eyes;
And when he claims my homage he comes in thy sweet guise.
| The Creed of My Heart and Other Poems | |