Andromeda, and Other Poems/In an Illuminated Missal
EARLY POEMS.
IN AN ILLUMINATED MISSAL.
I WOULD have loved: there are no mates in heaven;I would be great: there is no pride in heaven;I would have sung, as doth the nightingaleThe summer's night beneath the moonè pale,But saintès hymnes alone in heaven prevail.My love, my song, my skill, my high intent,Have I within this seely book y-pent:And all that beauty which from every partI treasured still alway within mine heart,Whether of form or face angelical,Or herb or flower, or lofty cáthedral,Upon these sheets below doth lie y-spred,In quaint devices deftly blazonèd. Lord, in this tome to thee I sanctify The sinful fruits of worldly fantasy.