PAST mastership in Love's great art I claim, A lover perfect as you e'er shall find, Proved in all Love's degrees of every kind: Is not such merit well deserving fame? A girl with eyes to set the world aflame First did my youthful heart in fetters bind; Wife, widow next, who all good gifts combine, Each in succession my delight became. The girl I loved for bashful innocence; The wife I loved for worth without pretence; The widow loved for virtuous liberty. Therefore of lovers I deserve the throne, Nor any can my constancy deny, For I of womankind have loved but one. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LAMENT OF THE MASTER ERSKINE by ALEXANDER SCOTT (1520-1590) INSOMNIA by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS THIS COMPOST: 2. by WALT WHITMAN HE WISHES FOR THE CLOTHS OF HEAVEN by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS GOD EVERYWHERE by ABRAHAM IBN EZRA TO A MATTABASSETT (A CONNECTICUT INDIAN) by WALTER BARDECK A CONNOISSEUR by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. IN THE CHAMBER OF BIRTH by EDWARD CARPENTER |