Deem as ye list, upon good cause I may or think of this or that: But what or why myself best knows Whereby I think and fear not. But thereunto I may well think The doubtful sentence of this clause: I would it were not as I think, I would I thought it were not. For if I thought it were not so, Though it were so it griev'd me not: Unto my thought it were as though I hearkened though I hear not. At that I see I cannot wink, Nor from my thought so let it go. I would it were not as I think, I would I thought it were not. Lo, how my thought might make me free, Of that perchance that needeth not. Perchance no doubt the dread I see, I shrink at that I bear not. But in my heart this word shall sink, Until the proof may better be: I would it were not as I think, I would I thought it were not. If it be not, show no cause why I should so think, then care I not; For I shall so myself apply To be that I appear not: That is, as one that shall not shrink To be your own until I die. And if that be not as I think, Likewise to think it is not. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HYBRIDS OF WAR: A MORALITY POEM: 2. CAMBODIA by KAREN SWENSON THE ENGLISH GRAVEYARD IN MALACCA by KAREN SWENSON INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE TO A WOOD by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE BOOK OF MARTYRS by EMILY DICKINSON SONNET TO THE HUNGARIAN NATION by MATTHEW ARNOLD |