Love
Love's Submission
Translated by Curtis Hidden Page (1903) · From Songs and Sonnets of Pierre de Ronsard (1903)
What though it please you light my heart with fire
(Heart that is yours, your subject, your domain),
With fire of Furies, not with Love's sweet pain,
To waste me body and bone till life expire!
The ill that others deem too cruel-dire
Is sweet to me — I will not once complain,
For I love not my life, nor hold it fain
Save as to love it pleases your desire.
But yet, if Heaven hath made me, Lady mine,
To be your victim, may it not suffice
To lay my loyal service at your shrine?
'Twere better you should have my service meet
Than horror of a human sacrifice
Stricken and bleeding at your beauty's feet.
Cite this poem
MLA
Ronsard, Pierre de. “Love's Submission.” Translated by Curtis Hidden Page. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/ronsard/8/.
Chicago
Ronsard, Pierre de. “Love's Submission.” Translated by Curtis Hidden Page. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/ronsard/8/.
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