Not Jason nor Medea wise, <br />I crave to see, nor win much lore, <br />Nor list to Orpheus' minstrelsies; <br />Nor Her'cles would I see, that o'er <br />The wide world roamed from shore to shore; <br />Nor, by St. James, Penelope, - <br />Nor pure Lucrece, such wrong that bore: <br />To see my Love suffices me! <br /> <br />Virgil and Cato, no man vies <br />With them in wealth of clerkly store; <br />I would not see them with mine eyes; <br />Nor him that sailed, sans sail nor oar, <br />Across the barren sea and hoar, <br />And all for love of his ladye; <br />Nor pearl nor sapphire takes me more: <br />To see my Love suffices me! <br /> <br />I heed not Pegasus, that flies <br />As swift as shafts the bowmen pour; <br />Nor famed Pygmalion's artifice, <br />Whereof the like was ne'er before; <br />Nor Oleus, that drank of yore <br />The salt wave of the whole great sea: <br />Why? dost thou ask? 'Tis as I swore - <br />To see my Love suffices me!<br /><br />Andrew Lang<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ballade-of-amoureuse/
