Poem by Richard Watson Gilder

The New Day. Part 3. 22. The Lover's Lord and Master

I pray thee, dear, think not alone of me,
     ⁠But sometimes think of my great master, Love;
⁠     His faithful slave he is so far above
     ⁠That for his sake I would forgotten be—
Tho' well I know that hidden thus from thee
     ⁠Not far away my image then might rove,
     ⁠And his sweet, heavenly countenance would move
⁠     Ever thy soul to gentler charity.
So when thy lover's self leaps from his song
⁠     Thou him may love not less for his fair Lord.
⁠     But that thy love for me grow never small
(As bow long bent twangs not the arrowed cord,
⁠     And he doth lose his star who looks too long),
⁠     Sometimes, dear heart, think not of me at all.

1. The New Day. Part 3. 19. Thistle-Down
2. The New Day. Part 4. 17. “He Knows Not the Path of Duty”
3. The New Day. Part 3. 12. Denial
4. The New Day. Part 3. 31. “When the Last Doubt Is Doubted”
5. The New Day. Part 4. 7. Song (Years have flown since I knew thee first)

Print

1118 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version