Love's Words

"A man will give his life for me," Love saith.
"His heart and brain and body will I take,
And if Fate wills so, for that man, will make
A pleasure-house of life. Men shrink from death;
Yet I, by even a look, a tone, a breath,
Can make the death-hour lovely for my sake.
All things for me, a lover will forsake,
And verily I will reward his faith;

"But if a man have sorrow at my hand.
If Death the life of all he loves destroys,
And he should seek for any other joys,

Or search for consolation, I will brand
That man with shame, and utter with my voice
The words that bid him from my sight, my land."
"Therefore, O son," Love saith to me, "be wise!
Think not thy sorrow how to mitigate;
But rather, how to patient bear, and wait.
Thou hast loved well; I treasure all thy sighs.
And hear thy prayers: I cannot stay thine eyes
As yet from weeping, or reverse the fate
That God hath sent on thee, unbar the gate
That shuts her soul from thine, or bid her rise
To tell thee that these words are words of truth:
But have thou faith, O son, believe in me;
And I will some day make the path more smooth
For treading of thy pierced and weary feet.
It may be late or soon, but thou shalt see,
How sorrow borne for love, can make death sweet."