What poets say about love
part 10
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.
I John. IV. 18. 171
Love in a hut, with water and a crust,
Is—Love, forgive us!—cinders, ashes, dust.
Keats—Lamia. Pt. II. 172
I wish you could invent some means to make me at all happy without you. Every hour I am more and more concentrated in you; everything else tastes like chaff in my mouth.
Keats—Letters. No. XXXVII. 173
When late I attempted your pity to move,
Why seemed you so deaf to my prayers?
Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love
But—why did you kick me downstairs?
J. P. Kemble—Panel. Act I. Sc. 1. Quoted from Asylum for Fugitive Pieces. Vol. I. P. 15. (1785) where it appeared anonymously. Kemble is credited with its authorship. The Panel is adapted from Bickerstaff’s ’Tis Well ’Tis No Worse, but these lines are not therein. It may also be found in Annual Register. Appendix. (1783) P. 201. 174
What’s this dull town to me?
Robin’s not near—
He whom I wished to see,
Wished for to hear;
Where’s all the joy and mirth
Made life a heaven on earth?
O! they’re all fled with thee,
Robin Adair.
Caroline Keppel—Robin Adair. 175
The heart of a man to the heart of a maid—
Light of my tents, be fleet—
Morning awaits at the end of the world,
And the world is all at our feet.
Kipling—Gypsy Trail. 176
The white moth to the closing vine,
The bee to the open clover,
And the Gypsy blood to the Gypsy blood
Ever the wide world over.
Kipling—Gypsy Trail. 177
The wild hawk to the wind-swept sky
The deer to the wholesome wold;
And the heart of a man to the heart of a maid,
As it was in the days of old.
Kipling—Gypsy Trail. 178
The hawk unto the open sky,
The red deer to the wold;
The Romany lass for the Romany lad,
As in the days of old.
Given in the N. Y. Times Review of Books as a previously written poem by F. C. Weatherby. Not found. 179
Sing, for faith and hope are high—
None so true as you and I—
Sing the Lovers’ Litany:
“Love like ours can never die!”
Kipling—Lovers Litany. 180
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ eastward to the sea,
There’s a Burma girl a-settin’, and I know she thinks o’ me;
For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say:
“Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!”
Kipling—Mandalay. 181
If Love were jester at the court of Death,
And Death the king of all, still would I pray,
“For me the motley and the bauble, yea,
Though all be vanity, as the Preacher saith,
The mirth of love be mine for one brief breath!”
Frederic L. Knowles—If Love were Jester at the Court of Death. 182
Love begins with love.
La Bruyère—The Characters and Manners of the Present Age. Ch. IV. 183
Le commencement et le déclin de l’amour se font sentir par l’embarras où l’on est de se trouver seuls.
The beginning and the end of love are both marked by embarrassment when the two find themselves alone.
La Bruyère—Les Caractères. IV. 184
Amour! Amour! quand tu nous tiens
On peut bien dire, Adieu, prudence.
O tyrant love, when held by you,
We may to prudence bid adieu.
La Fontaine—Fables. IV. 1. 185
The pleasure of love is in loving. We are happier in the passion we feel than in what we excite.
La Rochefoucauld—Maxims. 78. 186
The more we love a mistress, the nearer we are to hating her.
La Rochefoucauld—Maxims. 114. 187
Ce qui fait que amants et les maitresses ne s’ennuient point d’être ensemble; c’est qu’ils parlent toujours d’eux mêmes.
The reason why lovers and their mistresses never tire of being together is that they are always talking of themselves.
La Rochefoucauld—Maximes. 312. 188
Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing
Ever made by the Hand above—
A woman’s heart, and a woman’s life,
And a woman’s wonderful love?
Mary T. Lathrop. A Woman’s Answer to a Man’s Question. Erroneously credited to Mrs. Browning. 189
I love a lassie, a bonnie, bonnie lassie,
She’s as pure as the lily in the dell.
She’s as sweet as the heather,
The bonnie, bloomin’ heather,
Mary, ma Scotch Blue-bell.
Harry Lauder and Gerald Grafton. I Love a Lassie. 190
Other Links:
Pain and Promise
The Middle Way
Three Root Words
