Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | I. Disappointment in Love | | Unrequited Love | | William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | From “Twelfth Night,” Act I. Sc. 4.
VIOLA.—Ay, but I know,— | |
| DUKE.—What dost thou know? | |
| VIOLA.—Too well what love women to men may owe: | |
| In faith, they are as true of heart as we. | |
| My father had a daughter loved a man, | 5 |
| As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, | |
| I should your lordship. | |
| DUKE.—And what ’s her history? | |
| VIOLA.—A blank, my lord. She never told her love, | |
| But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud, | 10 |
| Feed on her damask cheek; she pined in thought; | |
| And, with a green and yellow melancholy, | |
| She sat like Patience on a monument, | |
| Smiling at grief. Was not this love, indeed? | |
| We men may say more, swear more: but, indeed, | 15 |
| Our shows are more than will; for still we prove | |
| Much in our vows, but little in our love. | | | | |
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