Her Last Letter
Sitting alone by the window,
Watching the moonlit street,
Bending my head to listen
To the well-known sound of your feet,
I have been wondering, darling,
How I can bear the pain,
When I watch, with sighs and tear-wet eyes;
And wait for your coming in vain.
For I know that a day approaches
When your heart will tire of me;
When by door and gate I may watch and wait
For a form I shall not see.
When the love that is now my heaven,
The kisses that make my life,
You will bestow on another,
And that other will be-your wife.
You will grow weary of sinning
(Though you do not call it so),
You will long for a love that is purer
Than the love that we two know.
God knows I have loved you dearly,
With a passion strong as true;
But you will grow tired and leave me,
Though I gave up all for you.
I was as pure as the morning
When I first looked on your face;
I knew I never could reach you
In your high, exalted place.
But I looked and loved and worshiped
As a flower might worship a star,
And your eyes shone down upon me,
And you seemed so far-so far.
And then? Well, then, you loved me,
Loved me with all your heart;
But we could not stand at the altar,
We were so far apart.
If a star should wed with a flower
The star must drop from the sky,
Or the flower in trying to reach it
Would droop on its stalk and die.
But you said that you loved me, darling,
And swore by the heavens above
That the Lord and all of His angels
Would sanction and bless our love.
And I? I was weak, not wicked.
My love was as pure as true,
And sin itself seemed a virtue
If only shared by you.
We have been happy together,
Though under the cloud of sin,
But I know that the day approaches
When my chastening must begin.
You have been faithful and tender,
But you will not always be,
And I think I had better leave you
While your thoughts are kind of me.
I know my beauty is fading-
Sin furrows the fairest brow-
And I know that your heart will weary
Of the face you smile on now.
You will take a bride to your bosom
After you turn from me;
You will sit with your wife in the moonlight,
And hold her babe on your knee.
Oh, God! I never could bear it;
It would madden my brain, I know;
And so while you love me dearly
I think I had better go.
It is sweeter to feel, my darling-
To know as I fall asleep-
That some one will mourn me and miss me,
That some one is left to weep,
Than to die as I should in the future,
To drop in the street some day,
Unknown, unwept and forgotten
After you cast me away.
Perhaps the blood of the Saviour
Can wash my garments clean;
Perchance I may drink of the waters
That flow through pastures green.
Perchance we may meet in heaven,
And walk in the streets above,
With nothing to grieve us or part us
Since our sinning was all through love.
God says, 'Love one another,'
And down to the depths of hell
Will he send the soul of a women
Because she loved-and fell?
And so in the moonlight he found her,
Or found her beautiful clay,
Lifeless and pallid as marble,
For the spirit had flown away.
The farewell words she had written
She held to her cold, white breast,
And the buried blade of a dagger
Told how she had gone to rest.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Loved
Loved
Written by Ricky Wilde & Terry Ronald
Take all your goodness and shiness away
I'll tell you the things I've been longing to say
I'll break it to you just so you understand
The force and control that you hold in your hands
Make me the beat of your heart
Then fall into mine
One step at a time
You have no reason for doubting your feelings
Love isn't always the same
You are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
You are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
(Ooh you are loved)
Live for the moment according to you
And so when the time comes you know what to do
Trust me, I'm giving no secret away
I'm drowning in you but I want it that way
Make me the beat of your heart
Then fall into mine
One step at a time
You have no reason for doubting your feelings
Love isn't always the same
You are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
You are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
You are loved
(Ooh you are loved)
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
You are loved
(Ooh you are loved)
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
Rise to my world, fly to my arms
I love you
I'll make it for good, I'll make it forever
you know you are loved
Make me the beat of your heart
Love isn't always the same
You are loved
Ooh you are loved
(Loved you are)
(Loved you are)
(Loved you are loved)
Ooh you are loved
(Loved you are)
(Loved you are)
(Loved you are loved)
Ooh you are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
Ooh you are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You are loved
You I love
You
(You are the only one I love)
You are loved
(Loved you are)
You are loved
(Loved you are)
You are loved
You I love
You
(You are the only one I love)
You are loved
(Loved you are)
You are loved
(Loved you are)
You are loved
You I love
You
(You are the only one I love
song performed by by Kim Wilde
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Morning Star
MORNING STAR
It is true, I have loved,
About fifty times, I have loved
And each time I have loved,
The more I have loved...
And in you I have loved,
At the most I have loved,
At the best I have loved,
Because you are loved...
And if that isn't love,
As some would call love,
Then they don't know love
And may never know love...
Yet, for me, this is love,
For the one that I love,
For as long as I love,
Near the heart that I love
Of the sweetheart I love...
And you are my sweetheart, my love...
This is a love poem dedicated to
the character 'Morning Star'
in the western film 'Broken Arrow'.
Her thoughts blossomed with true love...
Her sweet heart and her beauty
will warm my heart forever.
Superbly played by Debra Paget:
More info here:
tinyurl-dot-com/broken-arrow-film
and here: debra-paget-dot-com
poem by Denis Martindale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I Loved You Once
I loved you once, with all my heart, my spirit, body, soul...
I loved you once, with all not part, with marriage as my goal...
I loved you once, with all my strength, as if I were on fire...
I loved you once, with all at length, as if love meant desire...
I loved you once, with all my dreams, which came by day and night...
I loved you once, with all extremes spent on this one delight...
I loved you once, with all God gave, with passion borne of joy...
I loved you once, with all to save romance and not some ploy...
I loved you once, with love divine, not holding back a thing...
I loved you once, with love benign that caused my heart to sing...
I loved you once, with happiness no other man has known...
I loved you once, with prayers to bless yet now I pray alone...
I loved you once, with each embrace, until the day you died...
I loved you once, with all God's grace yet now what sighs are sighed.
poem by Denis Martindale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Hold On Lynette The Horses Are Coming
Lynette was a beautiful baby
A true joy to her ma and pa
Free from oriningal sin she was
The whole family was in awe
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
One day she woke with fever
There was snow and wind and cold
The car was stuck at the end of the drive
To the doctor they could not go
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
Quick hook-up the team and the sleigh
By horse she'll surely make it
Hold on Lynette the horses are coming
Let's take some time to say how much we love you
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
Manes a flyin' tales a whippin'
The horse's plowed right through
Muscles a bulgin' and hides a sweating
Let's take some time to say how much we love you
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
Well by horse they surely made it
By horse they surely did
Just in time to tell them
There was nothing they could do for her
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
She was loved loved loved
Well, for all those ma's and pa's out there
Who've lost their little ones
This songs not about a child dying
It's of a parent's love
One day on earth is just the same
as one year or fifty or a hundred
The only difference my friends
Is in the love you been giving and receiving
Love love love
Love love love
Love love love
Love love love
Hold on Lynette the horses are coming
Let's take some time to say how much we love you
poem by Atty Davis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Remember Me When Im Gone
Why I don't know why even how?
How Lovers turn strangers
How all the passion and love
Turn in to ashes just in a while
How your real love flew
How it could be true
The love between me and you
The thing that I've never got
How the love like flower dies
How Would you tell me how
How you could forget the love
For It's sake days and nights breathless stood there
Never got tired of knocking the doors of my heart
love I loved you and lived for your love even after you've gone
Love I loved and I lived your pain
For your sake I used to love your pain
Because my love was real and
Truer than true
No one ever will be loved like The way I loved you
Someday you will comeback
But it'll be too late
never again you'll find me there
A lifetime I'm standing right here
Got tired this heart of mine
Long years alone waited for your return
If I had one more life I would sacrifice for your love
But when the time of leaving comes
There's nothing to do my love
When you come back when I'm gone
you will return home broken
That moment you'll feel how much you've hurt the one who loved you more than her life
I'll go far away taking with me your love and all the memories
Those memories never gone away
Like my shadow always chased my way
Remember me when I'm gone
Because even in my grave I'll always love those smiling green eyes.
poem by Sossi Khachadourian
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Love To Be Loved
[aaaaahi, byeeee]
So, you know how people are
When its all gone much too far
The way their minds are made
Still, theres something you should know
That I could not let show
That fear of letting go
And in this moment, I need to be needed
With this darkness all around me, I like to be liked
In this emptiness and fear, I want to be wanted
cause I love to be loved
I love to be loved [x2]
Yes, I love to be loved
I cry the way that babies cry
The way they cant deny
The way they feel
Words, they climb all over you
til they uncover you
From where you hide
And in this moment, I need to be needed
When my self-esteem is sinking, I like to be liked
In this emptiness and fear,
I want to be wanted
cause I love to be loved
I love to be loved [x2]
Oh I love to be loved
This old familiar craving
Ive been here before, this way of behaving
Dont know who the hell Im saving anymore
Let it pass let it go let it leave
From the deepest place I grieve
This time I believe
And I let go [x2]
I can let go of it
Though it takes all the strength in me
And all the world can see
Im losing such a central part of me
I can let go of it
You know I mean it
You know that I mean it
I recognize how much Ive lost
But I cannot face the cost
cause I love to be loved
Yes I love to be loved
I love to be loved
[x3]
I love to be loved
I love to be loved
Yes I love to be loved
song performed by by Peter Gabriel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Penelope
Love, like a wind, shook wide your blosmy eyes,
You trembled, and your breath came sobbing-wise
For that you loved me.
You were so kind, so sweet, none could withhold
To adore, but that you were so strange, so cold;
For that you loved me.
Like to a box of spikenard did you break
Your heart about my feet. What words you spake!
For that you loved me.
Life fell to dust without me; so you tried
All carefullest ways to drive me from your side,
For that you loved me.
You gave yourself as children give, that weep
And snatch back, with--'I meant you not to keep!'
For that you loved me.
I am no woman, girl, nor ever knew
That love could teach all ways that hate could do
To her that loved me.
Have less of love, or less of woman in
Your love, or loss may even from this begin--
That you so love me.
For, wild Penelope, the web you wove
You still unweave, unloving all your love;
Is this to love me,
Or what rights have I that scorn could deny?
Even of your love, alas, poor Love must die,
If so you love me!
poem by Francis Thompson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Rejected Lover
You 'never loved me,' Ada. These slow words
Dropped softly from your gentle woman-tongue
Out of your true and kindly woman-heart,
Fell, piercing into mine like very swords
The sharper for their kindness. Yet no wrong
Lies to your charge, nor cruelty, nor art,--
Ev'n when you spoke, I saw the tender tear-drop start.
You 'never loved me.' No, you never knew,
You, with youth's morning fresh upon your soul,
What 't is to love: slow, drop by drop, to pour
Our life's whole essence, perfumed through and through
With all the best we have or can control
For the libation--cast it down before
Your feet--then lift the goblet, dry for evermore.
I shall not die as foolish lovers do:
A man's heart beats beneath thid breast of mine,
The breast where--Curse on that fiend-whispering
'It might have been!'--Ada, I will be true
Unto myself--the self that so loved thine:
May all life's pain, like these few tears that spring
For me, glance off as rain-drops from my white dove's wing!
May you live long, some good man's bosom flower,
And gather chldren round your matron knees:
So, when all this is past, and you and I
Remember each our youth-days as an hour
Of joy--or anguish, one, serene, at ease,
May come to meet the other's steadfast eye,
Thinking, 'He loved me well!' clasp hands, and so pass by.
poem by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Lily's Silent Tears
Each night Lily lay down her weary head
She pulled her pillow closer
Turned her face buried it deep as it soaked up all the silent tears
She cried, she begged,
She wished she hoped but most of all she closed her eyes and prayed
From the corners of her closed eyes a tear escaped….two… three….till she set them all free
Lily cried herself to sleep night after night
Crying over life and love lost
Time slipped by
High above in the heavens one night
There way up above you and I
Upon the brightest star
Sat he
Writing away his heart
He felt a tremor run through his heart
He heard a distant cry
He closed his eyes and there deep within the beauty of his loving heart He saw that tear
One silent solitary sad burning tear that bore so much pain
He closed his eyes and wished and willed
To see the owner of the tear
The silent tear that caused the tremor in his heart
He found Lily lying on her pillow crying herself to sleep
He reached out and touched her
Soothed her healed her loved her
Her days filled with warmth
Her nights filled with moonlight and love
Then one cold night he left a tremor in her heart
With unspoken word
He told her
He loved her
They were friends
But
He could never love her in the same way that she loved him
For his heart was already taken
Night after night once again Lily lays her head upon her faithful pillow
Night after night once gain she cries herself to sleep
Night after night once again she feels the tremor inside her heart
But
Night after night he feels the tremor of another
I Never Loved A Man Before
(tom snow/gerry goffin)
Deep in the night
When you think the world is fast asleep
You come to me, take me where I wanna go
Making promises I know youll keep
Youre the first love in my life
And the moment we touch
I can tell you how weak Ive grown
You make me feel like I never loved a man before
Never held him in my arms, never told him I loved him
I remember all the lovers coming through my door
But you make me feel like I never loved a man before
Its hard to say it
Words dont come so easily to me
But its here in my heart
And its making me lose control
What else can I tell you
Whod refuse a night that takes you away
And touches your very soul
You make me feel like I never loved a man before
Never held him in my arms, never told him I loved him
I remember all the lovers coming through my door
But you make me feel like I never loved a man before
I went along looking at love differently
Oh but now its so strong
Look what youve done to me
You make me feel like I never loved a man before
Never held him in my arms, never told him I loved him
I remember all the lovers coming through my door
But you make me feel like I never loved a man before
(repeat to fade)
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lois House
Air -- "Saphrona's Farewell"
Come all ye young people of every degree,
Come give your attention one moment to me;
It's of a young couple I now will relate,
And of their misfortunes and of their sad fate.
One was a young damsel, both blooming and fair,
The other a young man, his beauty was rare;
He loved this lady as he loved his own life --
If God had not called her he would made her his wife.
He courted her a long time in triumph and glee,
But little did he think that she would soon leave,
Leave him in sorrow, forsaken, alone,
To mourn her departure, for she was going home:
Going home to her Father, that dwelleth on high,
Who gave her her life and who caused her to die,
And leave her true lover, one whom she could trust,
To moulder her fair form a while in the dust.
Lois House and Joy Morris were their names, I believe,
They loved each other dearly and never deceived,
But God he did part them, one which he laid low,
The other He left with his heart full of woe.
Joy laid her dying head on his bosom once more,
Pressed her to his heart as he had oft done before,
Saying, "Dear Lois, are you going to leave me?"
"Yes, Joy, I can no longer stay here with thee! "
"Oh! Joy, can't you give me up, dearest," said she;
"If you will say yes, love, I can leave in peace;
In heaven, love, I will be waiting for thee --
Be true to our Savior -- you'll soon follow me."
"If I must say yes, love, for you to leave me --
God will do better by you, Lois, than me;
Oh! it's hard for me, dearest, hard to say yes,
It leaves me alone, love, in sad woefulness."
"I want your picture, Joy, placed in my cold hand,
And let it be buried with me in the ground;
It's all I can carry with me to the grave --
Grant it to me, love, it's all that I crave."
They called for her father and mother most dear,
She kissed them and bade them farewell thro' their tears;
They called for her brother and sisters again,
To kiss their sister while life still remain.
"One kiss from you, Joy," she whispered so low,
That no one in the room heard her, you know;
She gasped for her breath once or twice more,
When lo! her spirit left her, and Lois is no more.
They placed her fair form in the coffin so cold,
And placed there Joy's picture as they had been told;
They bore her to her grave, all were in sad gloom,
And gently laid her down to rest in her tomb.
poem by Julia A Moore
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Your love, my 'sweetest dream
Loved you with my heart,
my soul and my conscience.
Loved you with all I had,
sort of love that was world blind.
Loved you with my head,
my respect and my loyality.
Loved you with every breeze,
that touched your ideal personality.
Loved you as you are,
you was and you have always been.
Loved you as you would be,
all possible shades that you could be in.
Loved you with my truth,
my life and my genuine.
Loved you with my silence,
my words that are living.
Loved you in my lows,
my highs and my extemes.
Loved you in each mood swings,
your love my sweet dream.
Loved you such love,
undefinable and unspoken.
Loved you such love,
that remained untaken! ! !
poem by Jaya Mishra
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I Have Loved
It is true, I have loved,
About fifty times, I have loved
And each time I have loved,
The more I have loved...
And in you I have loved,
At the most I have loved,
At the best I have loved,
Because you are loved...
And if that isn't love,
As some would call love,
Then they don't know love
And may never know love...
Yet, for me, this is love,
For the one that I love,
For as long as I love,
Near the heart that I love
Of the sweetheart I love...
And you are my sweetheart, my love...
poem by Denis Martindale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I'm Wondering
Jimmy was your sweetie pie
Your precious one
And I knew you used to love
The very ground he walked upon
One day, Jim's papa told him
Things were looking down
And they packed up everything
They owned and left this little old town
Each tear I dried for you,
The closer our lives grew,
I fell in love it's true
And you say you love me, too
Well, don't you know I'm wondering
Little girl, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved him?
Ooh,Baby I'm wondering
Little girl, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved him?
Oh baby
But, baby I'm wondering
Little girl, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved him?
Oh baby I'm wondering,
Little girl, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved Jim?
The day you see his face again
Or hear his voice
I don't want to be a loser
If you have to make a choice
Like a puppet to a string
To you, girl, I'm attached
And I know I'd be in trouble
If he came and took you back
I feel so insecure
In my mind, I can picture
Losing you for sure
And the pain I can't endure
Oh baby I'm wondering
Little girl, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved him?
Oh baby I'm wondering,
Sure enough, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved Jim?
Ooh Baby
I can't stop loving you, baby,
I can't stop loving you , no
I can't stop loving you, baby
I feel so insecure
In my mind, I
Can picture
Losing you for sure
And the pain I can't endure
Baby, I'm worried,
Really, really worried
I wanna make you happy
Really truly happy
Oh baby I'm wondering,
Little girl, I'm wondering
How can I make you love me
A little more than you loved him?
Oh baby I'm wondering
Little girl, I'm wondering ...
song performed by by Stevie Wonder
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Im Gonna Love You Anyway
(dean miller/stacy dean campbell)
Go ahead and tell me that you never really loved me, baby
Go ahead and tell me that the things I do have always made you crazy
Dont worry, darling
Dont worry, darling, thats okay
cause Im gonna love you anyway
Im gonna love you anyway
Go ahead and let it fall to pieces, tell me Ive been blind
Maybe if Id only seen it coming Id have found a way to change your mind
Dont worry, darling
Dont worry, darling, thats okay
cause Im gonna love you anyway
Im gonna love you anyway
Im gonna love you
In spite of it all
Drop everything, baby, run when you call
Youre gonna stumble
Youre gonna fall
And Ill be there
Ill be there for you
Go ahead and tell me that youre sorry no one else could take my place
I know thats what youre thinking I can see it by the way its written on your face
Dont worry, darling
Dont worry, darling, thats okay
cause Im gonna love you anyway
Im gonna love you anyway
Im gonna love you anyway
Go ahead and tell me that you never really loved me, baby
song performed by by Trace Adkins
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To A Much Too Unfortunate Lady
He will love you presently
If you be the way you be.
Send your heart a-skittering.
He will stoop, and lift the thing.
Be your dreams as thread, to tease
Into patterns he shall please.
Let him see your passion is
Ever tenderer than his....
Go and bless your star above,
Thus are you, and thus is Love.
He will leave you white with woe,
If you go the way you go.
If your dreams were thread to weave
He will pluck them from his sleeve.
If your heart had come to rest,
He will flick it from his breast.
Tender though the love he bore,
You had loved a little more....
Lady, go and curse your star,
Thus Love is, and thus you are.
poem by Dorothy Parker
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Love Never Loved Me
I live for love, and all it brings
The heart it heals the song it sings
The sweetest kiss, the warm embrace
Will melt the ice before it breaks
No matter what I do, no matter what I say
What can I do when nothing stays the same
It's written in the stars, the story ends the same
Everything changes
Love never loved me
Love left me out in the cold
Love never loved me
Love gave up on me after all
I've taken chances, set them free
I've taken back virginity
I've been adored, I've been the one
I've broken hearts, I've had my fun
No matter what I do, no matter what I say
What can I do when nothing stays the same
It's written in the stars, the story ends the same
Everything changes
Love never loved me
Love left me out in the cold
Love never loved me
Love gave up on me after all
You can't break a heart that's already broken
You can't steal a heart that's already stolen
And what doesn't kill me is making me strong
I'm ready for love
You can't break a heart that's already broken
You can't steal a heart that's already stolen
And what doesn't kill me is making me strong
I'm ready for love
Love never loved me
You can't break a heart that's already broken
You can't steal a heart that's already stolen
My greatest desire is to love and be loved
Cos I'm a believer I'm not giving up
And what doesn't kill me is making me strong
I'm waiting, I'm willing, I'm ready for love
Love never loved me
Love left me out in the cold
Love never loved me
Love gave up on me after all
Love never loved me (love never loved me)
Love left me out in the cold
Love never loved me (love never loved me)
Love gave up on me after all
song performed by by Geri Halliwell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You Were Loved
We all want to make a place in this world
We all want our voices to be heard
Everyone wants a chance to be someone
We all have dreams we need to dream
Sweeter than any star you can reach
Is when you reach and find you found someone
Youll hold this worlds most priceless thing
The greatest gift this life can bring
Is when you look back and know
You were loved
Chorus:
You were loved by someone
Touched by someone
Held by someone
Meant something to someone
Loved somebody
Touched somebodys heart along the way
You can look back and say
You were loved
Yes you were, now
You can have diamonds in the hands
Have all the riches in the land
But without love you dont really have a thing
When somebody cares that your alive
When somebody trusts you with their life
Thats when you know
That you have all you need
You hold this worlds most priceless gift
The finest treasure that there is
You can look back and know
You were loved
Chorus
So many roads that you can take
Whatever way you go
Dont take that road alone
Its better you should know...
Chorus
So remember to tell that special one
You are loved...are loved...you are loved
song performed by by Whitney Houston
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Discretion
AH, turn your pretty eyes away!
You would not have me love again?
Love's pleasure does not live a day,
Immortal is Love's pain,
And I am tired of pain.
I have loved once--aye, once or twice;
The pleasure died, the pain lives here;
I will not look in your sweet eyes,
I will not love you, Dear,
Lest you should grow too dear.
For I am weary and afraid.
Have I not seen why life was fair,
And known how good a world God made,
How sweet the blossoms were,
How dear the green fields were?
And I have found how life was gray,
A mist-hung road, a quest in vain,
Until once more Love smiled my way
And fooled me once again,
And taught me grief again.
Now I will gather no more grief;
I only ask to see the sky,
The budding flower, the budding leaf,
And put old dreamings by,
The dreams Love tortures by.
For, being wise, I love no more;
You, if you will, snare with those eyes
Some fool who never loved before,
And teach him to be wise!
For why should you be wise?
poem by Edith Nesbit
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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As a World Would Have It
ALCESTIS
Shall I never make him look at me again?
I look at him, I look my life at him,
I tell him all I know the way to tell,
But there he stays the same.
Shall I never make him speak one word to me?
Shall I never make him say enough to show
My heart if he be glad? Be glad? … ah! God,
Why did they bring me back?
I wonder, if I go to him again,
If I take him by those two cold hands again,
Shall I get one look of him at last, or feel
One sign—or anything?
Or will he still sit there in the same way,
Without an answer for me from his lips,
Or from his eyes,—or even with a touch
Of his hand on my hand?…
“Will you look down this once—look down at me?
Speak once—and if you never speak again,
Tell me enough—tell me enough to make
Me know that you are glad!
“You are my King, and once my King would speak:
You were Admetus once, you loved me once:
Life was a dream of heaven for us once—
And has the dream gone by?
“Do I cling to shadows when I call you Life?
Do you love me still, or are the shadows all?
Or is it I that love you in the grave,
And you that mourn for me?
“If it be that, then do not mourn for me;
Be glad that I have loved you, and be King.
But if it be not that—if it be true …
Tell me if it be true!”
Then with a choking answer the King spoke;
But never touched his hand on hers, or fixed
His eyes on hers, or on the face of her:
“Yes, it is true,” he said.
“You are alive, and you are with me now;
And you are reaching up to me that I—
That I may take you—I that am a King—
I that was once a man."
So then she knew. She might have known before;
Truly, she thought, she must have known it long
Before: she must have known it when she came
From that great sleep of hers.
She knew the truth, but not yet all of it:
He loved her, but he would not let his eyes
Prove that he loved her; and he would not hold
His wife there in his arms.
So, like a slave, she waited at his knees,
And waited. She was not unhappy now.
She quivered, but she knew that he would speak
Again—and he did speak.
And while she felt the tremor of his words,
He told her all there was for him to tell;
And then he turned his face to meet her face,
That she might look at him.
She looked; and all her trust was in that look,
And all her faith was in it, and her love;
And when his answer to that look came back,
It flashed back through his tears.
So then she put her arms around his neck,
And kissed him on his forehead and his lips;
And there she clung, fast in his arms again,
Triumphant, with closed eyes.
At last, half whispering, she spoke once more:
“Why was it that you suffered for so long?
Why could you not believe me—trust in me?
Was I so strange as that?
“We suffer when we do not understand;
And you have suffered—you that love me now—
Because you are a man.… There is one thing
No man can understand.
“I would have given everything?—gone down
To Tartarus—to silence? Was it that?
I would have died? I would have let you live?—
And was it very strange?”
poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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