If chaste and pure devotion of my youth Or glory of my April-springing years, Unfeignéd love in naked simple truth, A thousand vows, a thousand sighs and tears; Or if a world of faithful service done, Words, thoughts and deeds devoted to her honour, Or eyes that have beheld her as their sun, With admiration ever looking on her; A life that never joyed but in her love, A soul that ever hath adored her name, A faith that time nor fortune could not move. A Muse that unto heaven hath raised her fame: Though these, nor these, deserve to be embraced, Yet, fair unkind, too good to be disgraced. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO GOD THE FATHER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SONNET: 148 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE TENT ON THE BEACH: 2. THE WRECK OF RIVERMOUTH by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER SONG by FRANCOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE BERNIS INVITATION by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS ECCLESIASTES: THE LIGHT IS SWEET by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |