Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume II. Love. 1904. | | | | II. Love’s Nature | | Love | | Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) |
| | From the “Lay of the Last Minstrel,” Canto III. |
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AND said I that my limbs were old, | |
| And said I that my blood was cold, | |
| And that my kindly fire was fled, | |
| And my poor withered heart was dead, | |
| And that I might not sing of love?— | 5 |
| How could I, to the dearest theme | |
| That ever warmed a minstrel’s dream, | |
| So foul, so false a recreant prove! | |
| How could I name love’s very name, | |
| Nor wake my heart to notes of flame! | 10 |
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| In peace, Love tunes the shepherd’s reed; | |
| In war, he mounts the warrior’s steed; | |
| In halls, in gay attire is seen; | |
| In hamlets, dances on the green. | |
| Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, | 15 |
| And men below, and saints above; | |
| For love is heaven, and heaven is love. | |
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| True love’s the gift which God has given | |
| To man alone beneath the heaven; | |
| It is not fantasy’s hot fire, | 20 |
| Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly; | |
| It liveth not in fierce desire, | |
| With dead desire it doth not die; | |
| It is the secret sympathy, | |
| The silver link, the silken tie, | 25 |
| Which heart to heart, and mind to mind, | |
| In body and in soul can bind. | | | |
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