LOVE ASLEEP

I found Love sleeping in a place of shade, And as in some sweet dream the sweet lips smiled; Yea, seemed he as a lovely, sleeping child. Soft kisses on his full, red lips I laid, And with red roses did his tresses braid; Then pure, white lilies on his breast I piled, And fettered him with woodbine sweet and wild, And fragrant armlets for his arms I made. But while I, leaning, yearned across his breast, Upright he sprang, and from swift hand, alert, Sent forth a shaft that lodged within my heart. Ah, had I never played with Love at rest, He had not wakened, had not cast his dart, And I had lived who die now of this hurt. Philip Bourke Marston.