'Emelie, that fayrer was to seene <br />Than is the lilye on hys stalke grene..... <br />Uprose the sun and uprose Emelie.' <br /> <br />DOST thou thus love me, O thou beautiful? <br />So beautiful, that by thy side I seem <br />Like a great ducky cloud beside a star: <br />Yet thou creep'st o'er its edges, and it rests <br />On its lone path, the slow deep-hearted cloud-- <br />Then opes a rift and lets thee enter in; <br />And with thy beauty shining on its breast, <br />Feels no more its own blackness--thou art fair. <br /> <br />Dost thou thus love me, O thou all beloved, <br />In whose large store the very meanest coin <br />Would out-buy my whole wealth? Yet here thou comest <br />Like a kind heiress from her purple and down <br />Uprising, who for pity cannot sleep, <br />But goes forth to the stranger at her gate-- <br />The beggared stranger at her beauteous gate-- <br />And clothes and feeds; scarce blest till she has blest. <br /> <br />Dost thou thus love me, O thou pure of heart, <br />Whose very looks are prayers? What couldst thou see <br />In this forsaken pool by the yew-wood's side, <br />To sit down at its bank, and dip thy hand, <br />Saying, 'it is so clear!'--And lo, erelong <br />Its blackness caught the shimmer of they wings, <br />Its slimes slid downward from thy stainless palm, <br />Its depths grew still that there thy form might rise. <br /> <br />O beautiful! O well-beloved! O rich <br />In all that makes my need! I lay me down <br />I' the shadow of thy love, and feel no pain. <br />The cloud floats on, thee glittering on its breast, <br />The beggar wears thy purple as his own: <br />The noisome waves, made calm, creep to thy feet <br />Rejoicing that they yet can image thee, <br />And beyond thee, God's heaven, thick-sown with stars.<br /><br />Dinah Maria Mulock Craik<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-sketch-5/
