Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. TO MANON, COMPARING HER TO A FALCON. Brave as a falcon and as merciless, With bright eyes watching still the world, thy prey, I saw thee pass in thy lone majesty, Untamed, unmated, high above the press. The dull crowd gazed at thee. It could not guess The secret of thy proud aerial way, Or read in thy mute face the soul which lay A prisoner there in chains of tenderness. —Lo, thou art captured. In my hand to-day I hold thee, and awhile thou deignest to be Pleased with my jesses. I would fain beguile My foolish heart to think thou lovest me. See, I dare not love thee quite. A little while And thou shalt sail back heavenwards. Woe is me I chapter{Section 4III. TO THE SAME, ON HIS FORTUNE IN LOVING HER. I did not choose thee, dearest. It was Love That made the choice, not I. Mine eyes were blind As a rude shepherd's who to some lone grove His offering brings and cares not at what shrine He bends his knee. The gifts alone were mine ; The rest was Love's. He took me by the hand, And fired the sacrifice, and poured the wine, And spoke the words I might not understand. I was unwise in all but the dear chance Which was my fortune, and the blind desire Which led my foolish steps to love's abode, And youth's sublime unreasoned prescience Which raised an altar and inscribed in fire Its dedication " to the unknown god." chapter{Section 5IV. TO THE SAME, IN PRAISE OF HIS FATE. When I hear others speak of this and that In our fools' lives which might have better gone, Complaining idly of too niggard fate And wishing still their senseless past undone, I feel a childish tremor through me run, Stronger than reason, lest by some far chance Fate's ear to our sad plaints should yet be won And these our l...