THIS is what I vow; He shall have my heart to keep; Sweetly will we stir and sleep, All the years, as now. Swift the measured sands may run; Love like this is never done; He and I are welded one: This is what I vow. This is what I pray: Keep him by me tenderly; Keep him sweet in pride of me, Ever and a day; Keep me from the old distress; Let me, for our happiness, Be the one to love the less: This is what I pray. This is what I know: Lovers' oaths are thin as rain; Love's a harbinger of pain -- Would it were not so! Ever is my heart a-thirst, Ever is my love accurst; He is neither last nor first -- This is what I know. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VARIATIONS: 17 by CONRAD AIKEN AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS WAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON TO MY CLASS: ON CERTAIN FRUITS AND FLOWERS SENT ... SICKNESS by SIDNEY LANIER FOR THE NEW YEAR by EDWIN MARKHAM DOMESDAY BOOK: GOTTLIEB GERALD by EDGAR LEE MASTERS IN THE GARDEN AT THE DAWN HOUR by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MARION REEDY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |