The earth that made the rose, <br />She also is thy mother, and not I. <br />The flame wherewith thy maiden spirit glows <br />Was lighted at no hearth that I sit by. <br />I am as far below as heaven above thee. <br />Were I thine angel, more I could not love thee. <br /> <br />Bid me defend thee! <br />Thy danger over-human strength shall lend me, <br />A hand of iron and a heart of steel, <br />To strike, to wound, to slay, and not to feel. <br />But if you chide me, <br />I am a weak, defenceless child beside thee.<br /><br />Mary Elizabeth Coleridge<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/affection/
