 | Love-Sonnets |  |
29
XXI.
[Love is own brother to self-sacrifice]
Love is own brother to self-sacrifice;And in his happiest hour there is a breath
That sweeps him on tumultuously to death.
The heart that has not loved is cold as ice;
Lovers will sooner leave their paradise
Than such an one his joyless gloom, that saith
Wait for the bright day though it tarrieth.
Love freely gives up Love, a priceless price.
In Love's heart burns a self-destroying fire,
A heavenward, suicidal, soaring flame:
From the doomed barque Love looks forth with desire
On the grand surf-line drawing ever nigher:
The loveless hug their loneliness and shame;
Love lights the marriage-bed, a glorious pyre.
| Love-Sonnets | |