XLV
Reading edition
SHOULD I return, and find once more that thou Wert willing to become but half my bride, With what swift pace would I, in gladness, ride O’er the salt seas or coursing streams, that plough Their way ’twixt rocky chasms, and endow Their passage with those dangers that betide Love’s course, as we pursue it side by side. Sweetheart! What would I give to see thee now! And yet how sad, this knowledge that I hold, From past experience, within my heart: That even should I be within thy reach, Thou wouldst not make one effort to enfold Mine arms in thine, cold maiden that thou art! How then, at last, love to thee shall I teach?