Tongue-tied

You ask me why I love her, and you pause
Magnanimous, that I may make reply
Handing you deftly parceled every cause,
Saying with confidence, “Lo, this is why.”
But I am mute as if I had no tongue,
Without reason as if I had no mind,
This song the most familiar ever sung,
Is lost to me like a leaf caught in the wind.

And so my tongue is tied; and so you smile
Not knowing, little lover that you are,
(Prattling, “’Twill wear, ’twill last so long a while”)
The poet is compelled to love his star,
Not knowing he could never tell you why
Though silence makes inadequate reply.