T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Disloyal
By Laurence Hope (Adela Florence Nicolson) (1865–1904)(From Stars of the Desert, 1904) YOU were more than a Lover to me,— | |
| Were something sacred, and half divine,— | |
| Akin to Sunset over the Sea, | |
| To leaves that tremble and stars that shine. | |
| There was not much to attract in me, | 5 |
| No gift or beauty; you did not care | |
| Enough to give me fidelity | |
| Who cared so deeply, and could not share. | |
| Alas, my Temple! I find the Shrine | |
| I entered barefoot, with bended head, | 10 |
| To pay that tender homage of mine, | |
| An open courtyard, where all may tread! | |
| And all men knew it, I hear, but I, | |
| Who being a trusting fool, it seems, | |
| Went to the Market of Love to buy | 15 |
| With coins of worship, and faith, and dreams! | |
| Still it is over. Now, to forget! | |
| I know not whether to choose anew | |
| In hopes of finding loyalty yet, | |
| Or, fond but faithless, drift on with you. | 20 |
| Loving you lightly, among the rest,— | |
| (Many a little, not greatly one),— | |
| You may be right: I may find it best | |
| To do, henceforward, as you have done. | |
| But ah, for my sweet, lost nights with you, | 25 |
| When had Death been, in the dawning grey, | |
| Price of your beauty and love, I knew | |
| I would have paid, and been glad to pay! | |