I LOVED a maid (oh, she was fair of face!) But common words above Was my true love— So I was silent for a little space— Yet, 'gainst the day I meant that she should hear me, I sought for stately words that might endear me. My ardent lips, I vowed, should not repeat What countless lovers swear:— "Oh, thou art fair!" I scorned to merely say, "I love thee, Sweet!" So spent long days with rhetoric and tutor, In framing sentences I dreamed might suit her. Oh, how I pondered what she best might hear! Words should like jewels shine To make her mine— No commonplaces must offend her ear: But while for proper words my passion tarried I learned the maiden some one else had married! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHURCH FLOORE by GEORGE HERBERT VIRTUE [OR, VERTUE] by GEORGE HERBERT THE ROSES ON THE TERRACE by ALFRED TENNYSON THE SECOND MOTHERHOOD by ST. CLAIR ADAMS IMITATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE: A STORM by JOHN ARMSTRONG THE LAY OF MR. COLT by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |