 | Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative |  |
YES, LONE WERE MY BOSOM.
Yes, lone were my bosom if liken'd to thine,
And base were my soul if it knelt at thy shrine;
And the heaven we worship were false if it be
More true to the spoiler than thou wert to me.
And base were my soul if it knelt at thy shrine;
And the heaven we worship were false if it be
More true to the spoiler than thou wert to me.
If the hope that has cheer'd me through danger and death,
Be as easily lost as its owner's frail breath,
Then 'twere meet that my heart in its conflict should fly,
To the succor of him who decrees it to die.
Be as easily lost as its owner's frail breath,
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To the succor of him who decrees it to die.
If my hope of the future, as they tell me, be vain,
Thy lures shall not win me to trust it again;
And the evening of life were but anguish to me,
Did I deem its sad sunlight vouchsafed me by thee.
Thy lures shall not win me to trust it again;
And the evening of life were but anguish to me,
Did I deem its sad sunlight vouchsafed me by thee.
Thou mayst rule o'er the slaves whom thy fortune has made;
I am none, and by me thou canst ne'er be betray'd:
I call for no curse on thy head but the one,
To trust with my trust, and, like me, be undone.
I am none, and by me thou canst ne'er be betray'd:
I call for no curse on thy head but the one,
To trust with my trust, and, like me, be undone.
| Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative | |