YET ere I go, Disdainful Beauty, thou shalt be So wretched, as to know What joys thou fling'st away with me. A faith so bright, As Time or Fortune could not rust; So firm, that lovers might Have read thy story in my dust, And crown'd thy name With laurel verdant as thy youth, Whilst the shrill voice of Fame Spread wide thy beauty and my truth. This thou hast lost; For all true lovers, when they find That my just aims were crost, Will speak thee lighter than the wind. And none will lay Any oblation on thy shrine, But such as would betray Thy faith, to faiths as false as thine. Yet, if thou choose On such thy freedom to bestow, Affection may excuse, For love from sympathy doth flow. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO EMILIE BIGELOW HAPGOOD - PHILANTHROPIST by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON FAIR HARVARD by GEORGE SANTAYANA MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN THE DARK-EYED GENTLEMAN by THOMAS HARDY SONNET: TO L.T. IN FLORENCE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |