Let us fly! It is long past eleven; <br />The watch-dogs are silent; the moon <br />Hath all but abandoned the heaven, <br />And midnight is sinking in swoon. <br />Not a chirp to be heard in the thicket; <br />The kine are asleep in the byre; <br />All is hushed; here I stand at the wicket, <br />Alone, with my pulses on fire. <br /> <br />There! silently close you the lattice! <br />Now daintily drop we the latch! <br />What is that? O my pretty one! that is <br />A sparrow that moved in the thatch. <br />Quick! a hasty foot over the orchard! <br />The horses are saddled beyond. <br />To-night 'tis our fate to be tortured, <br />To-morrow night nothing but fond! <br /> <br />Yet I pause. O my Mabel! my beauty! <br />If they who sleep tranquil within <br />But knew how Love wrestles with Duty, <br />They weakness would call it, not sin! <br />If they, the calm clients of virtue, <br />But once on your bosom had throbbed, <br />They would swear 'twas a crime to desert you, <br />And pardon the felon that robbed. <br /> <br />No! Sooner the shade of the cypress <br />Stretch premature over your tomb, <br />Than the tread of the slanderous vipress, <br />Should, pitiless, darken your doom! <br />And in the last Grand Accusation <br />For selfishness, falsehood, or sloth, <br />This act of sublime abnegation <br />Shall, trumpet-tongued, plead for us both <br /> <br />Giacomo! back to the stable; <br />I shan't want the horses to-night. <br />And see you be gentle with Mabel; <br />It is not her temper, but fright. <br />Soft and warm, deep and broad, be her litter, <br />And her mane most caressingly curled. <br /> <br />O God! love is sweet, loss is bitter, <br />And I am alone in the world!<br /><br />Alfred Austin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-us-fly-2/
