Poem by Robert Seymour Bridges

Shorter Poems. Book III. 5. The Philosopher to His Mistress

Because thou canst not see,
Because thou canst not know
The black and hopeless woe
That hath encompassed me:
Because, should I confess
The thought of my despair,
My words would wound thee less
Than swords can hurt the air:

Because with thee I seem
As one invited near
To taste the faery cheer
Of spirits in a dream;
Of whom he knoweth nought
Save that they vie to make
All motion, voice and thought
A pleasure for his sake:

Therefore more sweet and strange
Has been the mystery
Of thy long love to me,
That doth not quit, nor change,
Nor tax my solemn heart,
That kisseth in a gloom,
Knowing not who thou art
That givest, nor to whom.

Therefore the tender touch
Is more; more dear the smile:
And thy light words beguile
My wisdom overmuch:
And O with swiftness fly
The fancies of my song
To happy worlds, where I
Still in thy love belong.

1. Shorter Poems. Book II. 4. Wooing
2. Shorter Poems. Book I. 17. Triolet (All women born are so perverse)
3. Shorter Poems. Book II. 8. Spring. Ode I
4. Shorter Poems. Book IV. 25. “Say Who Is This with Silvered Hair”
5. Shorter Poems. Book IV. 6. April, 1885

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