 | Firdausi in Exile and Other Poems |  |
196
CUPIDO CRUCIFIXUS.
One Love there is all roseate-flushed and fair—This is the love that plucks the fruit of life;
One Love there is with cypress round his hair,
The love that fought and fell in bitter strife:
Not that nor this the Shade that comes to-day
With tender hands to soothe my beating heart,—
But the third Love that gains and gives away,
And in renouncing holds the better part;
His eyes are very sweet, and bright with tears,
Like thine own eyes, my Dearest, wet with love;
He knows that I am weak, and torn with fears,
Trembling to say too much or not enough,
He knows that on the verge of hope I stand,
With Death and perilous Life on either hand.
| Firdausi in Exile and Other Poems | |