Erotica/Had We but Met

by Arthur Clark Kennedy

Had We but Met

Ah, Love, had we but met before,When standing at the gate of life,Ere we had opened wide that door—Now, I a husband, you a wife,Have met too late. Ah, say not so,You would have loved me years ago.

Then why not now! What earthly tiesMade by mankind can bind our soulsWhich rush together! Let us riseAbove such bondage. What controlsA love like ours? 'Tis not of earth,But from Promethean fires has birth.

'Tis no low-born material flame,Fanned by the breath of lustful men,That flickers fiercely first, then tame,Then fiercely once again, and thenDies down into grey embers, coldBecause this life seems growing old!

Nay, let our love, Sweet, vanquish Time,Cast out all fear, forget the pastAnd its attendant ills—sublimeStretches the future's vista—vastPotentialities therein,To love is surely not a sin!

'Tis far more sinful, Sweet, to me,To yield yourself up to abuseOf lust in guise of love, than beFreely beloved. That man's vile use,Though sanctioned by our social creed,Has left your body poor indeed.