love (iii)

I've recently bought some fabulous books from MLS students who are leaving town. Among them is an anthology of George Herbert's work, and now I'm back on a poetry kick. (I call it a kick because it won't last more than a few weeks...as soon as I'm inspired to start writing my own, it becomes painfully obvious that prose is a better genre for me.) ;-)

Anyway, I hope to blog more now that the semester is over, but for now, here's Herbert's "Love (III)."

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.