| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Love’s Meaning | | By Carlotta Perry (1839–1914) |
| | | I THOUGHT it meant all glad ecstatic things, | |
| Fond glance and touch and speech, quick blood and brain, | |
| And strong desire, and keen, delicious pain, | |
| And beauty’s thrall, and strange bewilderings | |
| ’Twixt hope and fear, like to the little stings | 5 |
| The rose-thorn gives, and then the utter gain— | |
| Worth all my sorest striving to attain— | |
| Of the dear bliss long-sought possession gives. | |
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| Now with a sad, clear sight that reassures | |
| My often sinking soul, with longing eyes | 10 |
| Averted from the path that still allures, | |
| Lest, seeing that for which my sore heart sighs, | |
| I seek my own good at the cost of yours,— | |
| I know at last that love means sacrifice. | | | | |
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