LOVE'S COMPENSATIONS
Love! how unhappy in his fate is he
Who never hath thy wondrous power confessed.
Or never ventured on thy stormy sea,
Fearing too much to break his quiet rest:
Perchance he so escapes much bitter pain,
Yet had he loved with fearless heart and soul,
Surely in that there had been priceless gain,
Outweighing far whate'er might be of dole.
Expansive, not repressive, is true life,
Man passionless is scarcely man at all,
We win our way to peace through toil and strife,
Nectar he shall not taste who shuns life's gall:
They never truly live who love disown—
A truth to poets and to lovers known.
Who never hath thy wondrous power confessed.
Or never ventured on thy stormy sea,
Fearing too much to break his quiet rest:
Perchance he so escapes much bitter pain,
Yet had he loved with fearless heart and soul,
Surely in that there had been priceless gain,
Outweighing far whate'er might be of dole.
Expansive, not repressive, is true life,
Man passionless is scarcely man at all,
We win our way to peace through toil and strife,
Nectar he shall not taste who shuns life's gall:
They never truly live who love disown—
A truth to poets and to lovers known.