Sometimes I wonder if you guess
                                                                       The deep impassioned tenderness
                                                Which overflows my heart;
                                                                  The love I never dare confess;
                                                                                     Yet hard, yea, harder to repress
                                                      Than tears too fain to start.

                               Sometimes I ponder, O my sweet,
                                                                                            The things I'll tell you when we meet;
                                                        But straightway at your sight
                                          My heart's blood oozes to my feet
                        Like thawing waters in the heat,
                                                       Confused with too much light.

                                                                         I hardly know, when you are near,
                                          If it is love, or joy, or fear
                                                                                                             Which fills my languid frame;
                                              Enveloped in your atmosphere,
                         My dark self seems to disappear,
                                                                         A moth entombed in flame.

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream

That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,

For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?

He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.

true love

I think true love is something like a tree;
The oak, that lifts its branches to the sky.
The woodman's axe may strike it fatally,
Or it may fall, when mighty winds sweep by.
And where it grew, the flowers may bloom instead,
And all may seem as though the tree were dead.

But underneath the grass, and flowers, there lies,
Hid from the gaping world, a tiny root,
A little living germ, that never dies;
And ever and anon its branches shoot
Up through the earth, and mock, and strive to be
The mighty forest king, the parent tree.

So love may wither, at the hand of Fate,
Or fall beneath the killing winds that blow;
And other loves may spring up, soon or late,
And flowers of forgetfulness may grow,
Over the spot where love once grew instead,
And we may think the old-time passion dead.

And still the little germ lies in the heart,
So closely hidden that it is not known;
And ever and anon its branches start,
Vain mimics of the passion that has flown.
Though love, once slain, can live not, as of yore,

I think its ghost will haunt us evermore.

a dream

In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dreams of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?

I Know Him By Heart

There's a secret path I follow,
To a place no one can find;
Where I meet my perfect someone,
I've kept hidden in my mind:

Where my heart makes my decisions,
'Till my dream becomes a vision;
And the love I feel,
Makes him real someday...

'Cause I know he's out there somewhere,
Just beyond my reach;
Though I've never really touched him,
Or ever heard him speak:

Though we've never been together,
We've never been apart;
No we've never met,
Haven't found him yet,
But I know him by heart.

* * * * *
Am I living in an illusion?
Wanting something I can't see?
If I compromise, I'd be living lies,
Pretending love's not meant to be...

'Cause I know my heart's worth saving,
And I know that he'll be waiting;
So I'll hold on,
And I'll stay strong, 'till then...

'Cause I know he's out there somewhere,
Just beyond my reach;
Though I've never really touched him,
Or ever heard him speak:

Though we've never been together,
We've never been apart;
No we've never met,
Haven't found him yet,
But I know him by heart.

No we've never met,
Haven't found him yet,
But I know him by heart.

Since first I saw your face I resolved to honour and renown ye;
If now I be disdainèd I wish my heart had never known ye.
What? I that loved and you that liked, shall we begin to wrangle?
No, no, no, my heart is fast, and cannot disentangle.

If I admire or praise you too much, that fault you may forgive me;
Or if my hands had stray'd but a touch, then justly might you leave me.
I ask'd you leave, you bade me love; is 't now a time to chide me?
No, no, no, I'll love you still what fortune e'er betide me.

The Sun, whose beams most glorious are, rejecteth no beholder,
And your sweet beauty past compare made my poor eyes the bolder:
Where beauty moves and wit delights and signs of kindness bind me,
There, O there! where'er I go I'll leave my heart behind me!

you make my heart like this now

My friend, I need you now
Please take me by the hand.

Stand by me in my hour of need,
Take time to understand.

Take my hand, dear friend,
And lead me from this place.
Chase away my doubts and fears,
Wipe the tears from off my face.

Friend, I can't stand alone.
I need your hand to hold,
The warmth of your gentle touch
In my world that's grown so cold.

Please be a friend to me
And hold me day by day.
Because with your loving hand in mine,
I know we'll find the way.