The loyalty of love

I love thee, I love thee;

In vain I endeavour

To fly from thine image;

It haunts me for ever.

All things that rejoiced me

Now weary and pall;

I feel in thine absence

Bereft of mine all.

My heart is the dial;

Thy looks are the sun;

I count but the moments

Thou shinest upon.

Oh royal, believe me,

It is to controul sic

Two mighty dominions,

The Heart and the Soul.

To know that thy whisper

Each pang can beguile;

And feel that creation

Is lit by thy smile.

Yet every dominion

Needs care to retain --

Dost thou know when thou pain'st me

Or smile at the pain?

Alas the heart-sickness

The doubt and the dread,

When some word that we pine for

Cold lips have not said!

When no pulses respond to

The feelings we prove;

And we tremble to question

'If

this

can be love;'

At moments comparing

Thy heart with mine own,

I mourn not my bondage,

I sigh for thy throne.

For if thou forsake me

Too well I divine

That no love could defend thee

From sorrow like mine.

And this, Oh ungrateful,

I most should deplore--

That heart thou hadst broken

Could shield thee no more!