Coventry Patmore (1823–1896)

I WATCHED her face, suspecting germs

Of love: her farewell showed me plain

She loved, on the majestic terms

That she should not be loved again.

She was all mildness; yet t’was writ

Upon her beauty legibly,

“He that’s for heaven itself unfit,

Let him not hope to merit me.”

*****

And though her charms are a strong law

Compelling all men to admire,

They are so clad with lovely awe,

None but the noble dares desire.

He who would seek to make her his,

Will comprehend that souls of grace

Own sweet repulsion, and that ’tis

The quality of their embrace

To be like the majestic reach

Of coupled suns, that, from afar,

Mingle their mutual spheres, while each

Circles the twin obsequious star:

And in the warmth of hand to hand,

Of heart to heart, he’ll vow to note

And reverently understand

How the two spirits shine remote;

And ne’er to numb fine honor’s nerve,

Nor let sweet awe in passion melt,

Nor fail by courtesies to observe

The space which makes attraction felt;

Nor cease to guard like life the sense

Which tells him that the embrace of love

Is o’er a gulf of difference

Love cannot sound, nor death remove.