4.17.2006

my heart's a coward

Qui primavera sempre ed ogni frutto.Dante

Ragionando con meco ed io con lui.Petrarch

"Love me, for I love you"--and answer me,
"Love me, for I love you"--so shall we stand
As happy equals in the flowering land
Of love, that knows not a dividing sea.
Love builds the house on rock and not on sand,
Love laughs what while the winds rave desperately;
And who hath found love's citadel unmann'd?
And who hath held in bonds love's liberty?
My heart's a coward though my words are brave
We meet so seldom, yet we surely part
So often; there's a problem for your art!
Still I find comfort in his Book, who saith,
Though jealousy be cruel as the grave,
And death be strong, yet love is strong as death.

[Christina Georgina Rossetti, from 'Monna Innominata: A Sonnet Of Sonnets']

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