LOVE’ S PERSONALITY

If I had never seen

Thy sweet grave face,

If I had never known

Thy pride as of a queen,

Yet would another’ s grace

Have led me to her throne.

I should have loved as well

Not loving thee,

My faith had been as strong

Wrought by another spell;

Her love had grown to be

As thine for fire and song.

Yet is our love a thing

Alone, austere,

A new and sacred birth

That we alone could bring

Through flames of faith and fear

To pass upon the earth.

As one who makes a rhyme

Of his fierce thought,

With momentary art

May challenge change and time,

So is the love we wrought

Not greatest, but apart.