| GIVE all to love; |
|
| Obey thy heart; |
|
| Friends, kindred, days, |
|
| Estate, good fame, |
|
| Plans, credit, and the Muse— |
5 |
| Nothing refuse. |
|
|
| ‘Tis a brave master; |
|
| Let it have scope: |
|
| Follow it utterly, |
|
| Hope beyond hope: |
10 |
| High and more high |
|
| It dives into noon, |
|
| With wing unspent, |
|
| Untold intent; |
|
| But it is a god, |
15 |
| Knows its own path, |
|
| And the outlets of the sky. |
|
|
| It was never for the mean; |
|
| It requireth courage stout, |
|
| Souls above doubt, |
20 |
| Valour unbending: |
|
| Such ’twill reward;— |
|
| They shall return |
|
| More than they were, |
|
| And ever ascending. |
25 |
|
| Leave all for love; |
|
| Yet, hear me, yet, |
|
| One word more thy heart behoved, |
|
| One pulse more of firm endeavour— |
|
| Keep thee to-day, |
30 |
| To-morrow, for ever, |
|
| Free as an Arab |
|
| Of thy beloved. |
|
|
| Cling with life to the maid; |
|
| But when the surprise, |
35 |
| First vague shadow of surmise, |
|
| Flits across her bosom young, |
|
| Of a joy apart from thee, |
|
| Free be she, fancy-free; |
|
| Nor thou detain her vesture’s hem, |
40 |
| Nor the palest rose she flung |
|
| From her summer diadem. |
|
|
| Though thou loved her as thyself, |
|
| As a self of purer clay; |
|
| Though her parting dims the day, |
45 |
| Stealing grace from all alive; |
|
| Heartily know, |
|
| When half-gods go |
|
| The gods arrive. |
