Poems (Taylor)/Monody

MONODY
I.

  Art thou so sad, sweet Soul,—
Sad with the sadness of narcissus pale,
Whose delicate odours lingeringly exhale
By rare brown pools the green-blue birches veil,
Sad with the sadness, Love, of souls too pure
Their own consuming beauty to endure,—
  Art thou so sad, sweet Soul?

II.

  Love me, too-perfect Soul!
For such as thou, stooping to love of me
Surely a fault, a recklessness will be
To check thy fatal flame of purity,—
And yet a fault the gods may well forgive.
For this,—for any reason,—let me live,—
  O love me, perfect Soul!