A Valentine
The hunter to the husbandman
Pays tribute since our love began,
And to love-loyalty dedicates
The phantom kills he meditates.
Let me embrace, embracing you,
Beauty of other shape and hue,
Odd glinting graces of which none
Shone more than candle to your sun,
Your well-kissed hand was beckoning me
In unfamiliar imagery—
Smile your forgiveness; each bright ghost
Dives in love’s glory and is lost,
Yielding your comprehensive pride
A homage, even to suicide.
Robert Graves. "A Valentine" from Whipperginny. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. Public Domain.
Source:
Whipperginny
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1923)
