Pebbles and Shells (Hawkes collection)/The Poet's Love
THE POET'S LOVE
The poet's love should be a maid so fairThat all would pause in pleasure and surprise,Whene'er she passed, to feast their hungry eyesUpon a sight so beautiful and rare.The poet's love should have a mind and dareTo criticise her minstrel's faulty song,To tell him where the feeble lines went wrong,And then to praise the little beauty there.The poet's love should be a maid of prayerAnd draw her knowledge of the lyric art Out of the longings of her woman's heart,With eyes to see and heart to truly careFor peerless truth, then while the poet singsShe lifts him up to higher nobler things.