Oh Love, my Love, I love you so
Like petals shaken from a rose
Beneath the noontide heat,
So fell her loving words on him
Where he knelt at her feet,
In tender accents, sweet and low,
"Oh Love, my Love, I love you so!
"I love you, love me, or I die,
Fainting beneath Love's fire
Which burns my very life-blood black
By breath of my desire.
Kiss these my bosoms white as snow,
And quench their flame's devouring glow.
"Freely I yield myself to you,
Throne you my King, my Lord,
Your smile a crown of light to me,
Your frown a very sword.
Oh Love, my Love, I love you so,
Your silence strikes me as a blow."
Then he replied with heart too full
For any sudden speech,
By holding up his arms to her,
And as each clung to each,
Mixed with the fountain's murmurous flow
I heard "Oh Love, I love you so!"
That long kiss sanctified a year,
A month, a week, a day.
Perhaps 'twas but an hour, who knows?
Time stays for such as they.
Love counts not time, but this I know,
'Twas very, very long ago.