The Loyalty of Love

I love thee, I love thee;
In vain I endeavour
To fly from thine image;
It haunts me for ever.

All things that rejoiced me
Now weary and pall;
I feel in thine absence
Bereft of mine all.

My heart is the dial;
Thy looks are the sun;
I count but the moments
Thou shinest upon.

Oh, royal, believe me,
It is to control
Two mighty dominions,
The Heart and the Soul.

To know that thy whisper
Each pang can beguile;
And feel that creation
Is lit by thy smile.

Yet every dominion
Needs care to retain—
Dost thou know when thou pain’st me
Or smile at the pain?

Alas! the heart-sickness,
The doubt and the dread,
When some word that we pine for
Cold lips have not said!

When no pulses respond to
The feelings we prove;
And we tremble to question
“If this can be love;”

At moments comparing
Thy heart with mine own,
I mourn not my bondage,
I sigh for thy throne.

For if thou forsake me,
Too well I divine
That no love could defend thee
From sorrow like mine.

And this, O ungrateful,
I most should deplore—
That the heart thou hadst broken
Could shield thee no more!