GIVE ALL TO LOVE
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ive all to love;Obey thy heart;Friends, kindred, days,Estate, good-fame,Plans, credit and the Muse,--Nothing refuse. 'T is a brave master;Let it have scope:Follow it utterly,Hope beyond hope:High and more highIt dives into noon,With wing unspent,Untold intent;But it is a god,Knows its own pathAnd the outlets of the sky. It was never for the mean;It requireth courage stout.Souls above doubt,Valor unbending,It will reward,--They shall returnMore than they were,And ever ascending. Leave all for love;Yet, hear me, yet,One word more thy heart behoved,One pulse more of firm endeavor,--Keep thee to-day,To-morrow, forever,Free as an ArabOf thy beloved. Cling with life to the maid;But when the surprise,First vague shadow of surmiseFlits across her bosom young,Of a joy apart from thee,Free be she, fancy-free;Nor thou detain her vesture's hem,Nor the palest rose she flungFrom her summer diadem. Though thou loved her as thyself,As a self of purer clay,Though her parting dims the day,Stealing grace from all alive;Heartily know,When half-gods go.The gods arrive.
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