BALLADE OF THE UNCHANGING BÉLOVED

When rumour fain would fright my ear

With the destruction and decay

Of things familiar and dear,

And vaunt of a swift-running day

That sweeps the fair old Past away;

Whatever else be strange and new,

All other things may go or stay,

So that there be no change in you.

These loud mutations others fear

Find me high-fortressed‘ gainst dismay,

They trouble not the tranquil sphere

That hallows with immortal ray

The world where love and lovers stray

In glittering gardens soft with dew —

O let them break and burn and slay,

So that there be no change in you.

Let rapine its republics rear,

And murder its red sceptre sway,

Their blood-stained riot comes not near

The quiet haven where we pray,

And work and love and laugh and play;

Unchanged, our skies are ever blue,

Nothing can change, for all they say,—

So that there be no change in you.

Princess, let wild men brag and bray,

The pure, the beautiful, the true.

Change not, and changeless we as they —

So that there be no change in you.