A Coward Still
A coward still: I’ve longed to fling
My arms about you, and to bring
My beating heart so near to thine,
That it might learn all thought of mine,
And closer to me cling.
But ere I dared do anything,
My trembling courage took to wing,
And left its bold design,
A coward still.
Poor heart: these words for ever ring,
Fair dame wins not the faint fearing;
Tho’ secretly it may repine
The loss that would make life divine,
Yet it must be content to sing,
A coward still.
John Cameron Grant.