Forbidden Love

OH, love ! thou that shelt'rest some
'Neath thy wings, so white and warm,
Wherefore on a bat-like wing
All disguised didst thou come
In so terrible a form ?
As a dark forbidden thing,
As a demon of the air —
As a sorrow and a sin,

Wherefore cam'st thou thus to me,
As a tempter and a snare ?
When the heart that beats within
This, my bosom, warm'd to thee,
Was it from a love of sinning, —
From a fatal love of wrong,
From a wish to shun the light ?
Nay ! I swear at the beginning

Hadst thou sung an angel's song, —
Had this wrong thing been the right,
Thou hadst seem'd as worth the winning,
And with will as firm and strong
I had lov'd with all my might