Poem by James Russell Lowell

The Lover

                   I.

    Go from the world from East to West,
  Search every land beneath the sky,
  You cannot find a man so blest,
  A king so powerful as I,
  Though you should seek eternally.


                  II.

    For I a gentle lover be,
  Sitting at my loved-one's side;
  She giveth her whole soul to me
  Without a wish or thought of pride,
  And she shall be my cherished bride.


                 III.

    No show of gaudiness hath she,
  She doth not flash with jewels rare;
  In beautiful simplicity
  She weareth leafy garlands fair,
  Or modest flowers in her hair.


                  IV.

    Sometimes she dons a robe of green,
  Sometimes a robe of snowy white,
  But, in whatever garb she's seen,
  It seems most beautiful and right,
  And is the loveliest to my sight.


                   V.

    Not I her lover am alone,
  Yet unto all she doth suffice,
  None jealous is, and every one
  Reads love and truth within her eyes,
  And deemeth her his own dear prize.


                  VI.

    And so thou art, Eternal Nature!
  Yes, bride of Heaven, so thou art;
  Thou, wholly lovest every creature,
  Giving to each no stinted part,
  But filling every peaceful heart.

1. Fancies about a Rosebud, Pressed in an Old Copy of Spenser
2. Fourth of July Ode
3. My Friend, Adown Life's Valley, Hand in Hand
4. Verse Cannot Say How Beautiful Thou Art
5. Much I Had Mused of Love, and in My Soul

Dora Sigerson Shorter The Lover ("I go through wet spring woods alone")

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