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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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125

[CCXVI. “I write too coldly and I write too much!”]

“I write too coldly and I write too much!”
The more, the colder seems whate'er I write,
That I confess; though still I strain for flight,
Who scarce can walk, a cripple, on my crutch.
Through all these leaves, which perish in the clutch
Of my presumption, what poetic height
Of airy song might charm the thoughtful night,
Winged by another's more melodious touch!
Bear with my sonnets, though they do thee wrong;
Mine is a failure only in degree,
Showing how great a greater bard's might be.
For what if Petrarch blushed above his song,
Or Dante frowned, or Tasso's sighs grew long,
To own a shame that humbles only me?
October 12, 1866
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