Alas, my love, if I could make you live And from the page step forth and sit beside me Or better still, bestride the steed I gave you Wrapped close within the cloak I lent to hide thee Perhaps I’d venture forth to ask thy name Since while thou liest underneath my pen That honour given which the poorest claim Unjustly was withheld. But if again I held thee captive as I did ere now Stalling to pass my fingers through the last Of midnight tendrils, or peruse thy brow In fear of sending off what heaven cast Too early for my insufficient mind To grasp the fullest detail and retain The presence that your image left behind That thou in all thy glory should remain I fear my oversight I would not mend For now upon reflection I confess That secretly I never did intend With title long or surname rich to bless But rather let in my imagination Run wild the thoughts of who perhaps you were Before your soul demanded your creation And deigned my mind and willing heart to stir For such a noble and impassioned face Could well be but newborn unto this sphere But sure among a distant beauteous race Thou hast known more than all who dwelleth here And could tell much of places thou hast seen And battles fought for honours won and lost And how each service done a faerie Queen Becomes a brighter jewel than it cost The ladies of your world, you may impart Desire to be neither over-graced Nor underrepresented in the art Of living, where their lips were meant to taste A sort of feline stealth they wear about them And while a flame of innocence they hold In forests dark you fear to be without them For knights of maler kinds are ne’er so bold Yes, in thy orb a maid may be a knight (Thou knew’st a friend would make upon this news) Without a whisper loud or censure slight For lords are not afeared their stock to lose Where no stock may be taken or be kept No property be granted, nor no bride No maiden may be stolen while she slept Nor robbed of her freedom to decide What suits her best. No county’s law is needed To cut the weed of violence from the stem No danger for the law to go unheeded For acts as these do not occur to them The gentlemen you raise are rarer still For in their eyes, as in the depths of thine, Such soft and thrilling mysteries fulfill The darkest corners of their heart’s design Their arrows, much like those I gave to thee Could not but graze the flank of yonder cow Without making him laugh. ‘Tis much to see Them tickling their prey. I know not how They ever do encapture what they eat Save that perhaps their bright unfettered brains Have learned that what grows underneath their feet And in the trees above better sustains A life intent on living well tomorrow. But how, I ask thee, most endearing fiend Do lords and ladies love where is no sorrow No strife to overcome, no soul uncleaned Of crushing ardor long worn out its stay, Betrothal to a mortal less divine Than that who stole thy blushing breath away, No hot forbidden kisses for to pine, No heart affixed to age where heart is young, No ill intentioned suitors to evade? “Still madam! Would'st thou kindly hold thy tongue” Thou sayest. “Your mistake has rash been made In living long in combat with your kind Thou see’st no other obstacle but these Thy hands are careworn that have yet to find The hands that first should hold them. Yet to please The hierarchy which you serve unwitting Thou dost believe that love in fighting grows That happiness in love is not befitting But in thy sadness thou mak’st light of woes For even were there ne’er a cloudy day No tempest to divide what love had bound The galley which the moon holds in her sway Could not but stir the peace it finally found The wound is deeper than the sea about thee The stars upon my doublet you have drawn May light my homeward path, but how, without me Wilt thou escape the fate thou tremblest on?” And in this way and more my paper spoke O, fierce, savage, gentle beauty bright Thou who I’ve given breath my soul has broke You had authority but not the right Could I but see the lips that dare not breathe They are so beautiful and pressing sweet Could I but touch the wings that underneath Are made so soft thy heart forgets to beat Perhaps I should have more for which to strive You came to my domain and brought despair For though I be the chastest heart alive The realm you speak of will not take me there Have you no pity? Can’st thou not perceive That I, a blinded beast, had but the eyes To see where I would love? Dost thou believe That ere you came I was but vain disguise? I know the murmur of music reveals The things no human heart could comprehend I render’st thou for all that torment feels And longed to be thy lordship’s faithful friend Yea, quiet as a mushroom did I wait I willed to thee my form to overtake I shivered at each passing horse’s gait And so I slept to suddenly awake Alas, my love, wilt thou kiss me goodbye The lingering night will aid thee on thy travels I’ll craft but one thing more, a crow to fly Before to tell me how thy tale unravels I say, thou art complete and free to go What holds thee here save one who lives no longer For I have given thee the life you know The weaker I become thou art the stronger And in your antique words your clear intent Was that once thou art gone I should dismay. Quothe thee, “Your thought mistook me for I meant To leave thee not but offerest to stay For true I never did in my own realm Partake of that pure love of which I told thee But be my guide and with me at the helm And I shall in the cloak you wrought enfold thee And journey to the ends of all the earth For thou hast proved more generous and wise Than all we faeries, moons and stars are worth For live we not but living in your eyes.” Dear nameless knight, if thou would’st be mine own And leave thy dragons for a while thou may’st Find in these arms within which thou hast grown A better reason than the which thou say’st But with your hand you pointeth; swear I so And ‘tis not plain to me, though I did draw it Which way thou dost intend for us to go Sure in the mind it is of she who saw it Yet still perhaps I made thee to discover What one would do if one were asked to choose ‘Tween back and forwards. Be thee friend or lover Perhaps you were to be my favorite muse Thou feel’st thy armor; fight but when you must Thou see’st the blade of truth below thy knee Use arrows against all whom you mistrust But when thou ride’st my way aim one at me Your world is yours as ere it was before Your time beneath my busy hand well spent I’ve made a thing I love; I ask no more And never shall redeem the heart I lent Me in my world and thyself in thine Two petals on the same and silent flower And evermore I’ll welcome thee in mine Your dear creation was my finest hourTeksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.
