Amore Altiero

By Sir Henry Newbolt

Since thou and I have wandered from the highway

And found with hearts reborn

This swift and unimaginable byway

Unto the hills of morn,

Shall not our love disdain the unworthy uses

Of the old time outworn?

I'll not entreat thy half unwilling graces

With humbly folded palms,

Nor seek to shake thy proud defended places

With noise of vague alarms,

Nor ask against my fortune's grim pursuing

The refuge of thy arms.

Thou'lt not withhold for pleasure vain and cruel

That which has long been mine,

Nor overheap with briefly burning fuel

A fire of flame divine,

Nor yield the key for life's profaner voices

To brawl within the shrine.

But thou shalt tell me of thy queenly pleasure

All that I must fulfil,

And I'll receive from out my royal treasure

What golden gifts I will,

So that two realms supreme and undisputed

Shall be one kingdom still.

And our high hearts shall praise the beauty hidden

In starry-minded scorn

By the same Lord who hath His servants bidden

To seek with eyes new-born

This swift and unimaginable byway

Unto the hills of morn.