T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Disloyal
By Laurence Hope (Adela Florence Nicolson) (18651904)(From Stars of the Desert, 1904) YOU were more than a Lover to me,— | |
Were something sacred, and half divine,— | |
Akin to Sunset over the Sea, | |
To leaves that tremble and stars that shine. | |
There was not much to attract in me, | 5 |
No gift or beauty; you did not care | |
Enough to give me fidelity | |
Who cared so deeply, and could not share. | |
Alas, my Temple! I find the Shrine | |
I entered barefoot, with bended head, | 10 |
To pay that tender homage of mine, | |
An open courtyard, where all may tread! | |
And all men knew it, I hear, but I, | |
Who being a trusting fool, it seems, | |
Went to the Market of Love to buy | 15 |
With coins of worship, and faith, and dreams! | |
Still it is over. Now, to forget! | |
I know not whether to choose anew | |
In hopes of finding loyalty yet, | |
Or, fond but faithless, drift on with you. | 20 |
Loving you lightly, among the rest,— | |
(Many a little, not greatly one),— | |
You may be right: I may find it best | |
To do, henceforward, as you have done. | |
But ah, for my sweet, lost nights with you, | 25 |
When had Death been, in the dawning grey, | |
Price of your beauty and love, I knew | |
I would have paid, and been glad to pay! | |