How could I love you more? I would give up Even that beauty I have loved too well That I might love you better. Alas, how poor the gifts that lovers give -- I can but give you of my flesh and strength, I can but give you these few passing days And passionate words that, since our speech began, All lovers whisper in all ladies' ears. I try to think of some one lovely gift No lover yet in all the world has found; I think: If the cold sombre gods Were hot with love as I am Could they not endow you with a star And fix bright youth for ever in your limbs? Could they not give you all things that I lack? You should have loved a god; I am but dust. Yet no god loves as loves this poor frail dust. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PASSAGE TO INDIA by WALT WHITMAN SNOWBOUND by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER LOVE MAKES THE BEST POETS; AN IDYLLIUM by BION TO HARRY ELLIS WOOLDRIDGE by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES TO BETTINE; THE CHILD-FRIEND OF GOETHE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AMERICA (2) by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY LORD KNOWLES: SONG 2 by THOMAS CAMPION |