University of Virginia Library


264

LOVE'S TIMIDITY.

I do not ask to offer thee
A timid love like mine;
I lay it, as the rose is laid
On some immortal shrine.
I have no hope in loving thee,
I only ask to love;
I brood upon my silent heart,
As on its nest the dove.
But little have I been beloved,
Sad, silent, and alone:
And yet I feel, in loving thee,
The wide world is mine own.
Thine is the name I breathe to Heaven,
Thy face is on my sleep;
I only ask that love like this
May pray for thee and weep.