 | Last poems of James Russell Lowell |  |
32
LOVE AND THOUGHT
What hath Love with Thought to do?
Still at variance are the two.
Love is sudden, Love is rash,
Love is like the levin flash,
Comes as swift, as swiftly goes,
And his mark as surely knows.
Still at variance are the two.
Love is sudden, Love is rash,
Love is like the levin flash,
Comes as swift, as swiftly goes,
And his mark as surely knows.
Thought is lumpish, Thought is slow,
Weighing long 'tween yes and no;
When dear Love is dead and gone,
Thought comes creeping in anon,
And, in his deserted nest,
Sits to hold the crowner's quest.
Weighing long 'tween yes and no;
When dear Love is dead and gone,
Thought comes creeping in anon,
And, in his deserted nest,
Sits to hold the crowner's quest.
Since we love, what need to think?
Happiness stands on a brink
Whence too easy 't is to fall
Whither's no return at all;
Have a care, half-hearted lover,
Thought would only push her over!
Happiness stands on a brink
33
Whither's no return at all;
Have a care, half-hearted lover,
Thought would only push her over!
| Last poems of James Russell Lowell | |