Maiden Love

Oh Love, and hast thou conquered my proud heart
That did so long deny thy sovereignty?
Hast given lordship and command of me
Even to another, lesser than thou art?
Whose footfall bids the shameful blood upstart
To my pale cheeks and beat so clamorously
About my head, I cannot hear or see
Whose coming 'tis that bids my life depart.

Ah me! my heart is as an instrument
That only answers one musician's hand,
A vision one alone may represent,
A cipher but one sage can understand,
Yet to this one as blank, as dull, as far,
As such dead things to their possessors are!