Poem by Robert Seymour Bridges

Shorter Poems. Book I. 7. “I Will Not Let Thee Go”

        I will not let thee go.
    Ends all our month-long love in this?
        Can it be summed up so,
        Quit in a single kiss?
        I will not let thee go.

        I will not let thee go.
    If thy words’ breath could scare thy deeds,
        As the soft south can blow
        And toss the feathered seeds,
        Then might I let thee go.

        I will not let thee go.
    Had not the great sun seen, I might;
        Or were he reckoned slow
        To bring the false to light,
        Then might I let thee go.

        I will not let thee go.
    The stars that crowd the summer skies
        Have watched us so below
        With all their million eyes,
        I dare not let thee go.

        I will not let thee go.
    Have we not chid the changeful moon,
        Now rising late, and now
        Because she set too soon,
        And shall I let thee go?

        I will not let thee go.
    Have not the young flowers been content,
        Plucked ere their buds could blow,
        To seal our sacrament?
        I cannot let thee go.

        I will not let thee go.
    I hold thee by too many bands:
        Thou sayest farewell, and lo!
        I have thee by the hands,
        And will not let thee go.

1. Shorter Poems. Book I. 17. Triolet (All women born are so perverse)
2. Shorter Poems. Book II. 8. Spring. Ode I
3. Shorter Poems. Book III. 1. “O My Vague Desires!”
4. Shorter Poems. Book IV. 25. “Say Who Is This with Silvered Hair”
5. Shorter Poems. Book III. 7. Indolence

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