| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
| |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1803–1882 |
| |
| 669. Give All to Love |
| |
| GIVE all to love; | |
| Obey thy heart; | |
| Friends, kindred, days, | |
| Estate, good fame, | |
| Plans, credit, and the Muse— | 5 |
| Nothing refuse. | |
| |
| 'Tis a brave master; | |
| Let it have scope: | |
| Follow it utterly, | |
| Hope beyond hope: | 10 |
| High and more high | |
| It dives into noon, | |
| With wing unspent, | |
| Untold intent; | |
| But it is a god, | 15 |
| Knows its own path, | |
| And the outlets of the sky. | |
| |
| It was never for the mean; | |
| It requireth courage stout, | |
| Souls above doubt, | 20 |
| Valour unbending: | |
| Such 'twill reward;— | |
| They shall return | |
| More than they were, | |
| And ever ascending. | 25 |
| |
| Leave all for love; | |
| Yet, hear me, yet, | |
| One word more thy heart behoved, | |
| One pulse more of firm endeavour— | |
| Keep thee to-day, | 30 |
| To-morrow, for ever, | |
| Free as an Arab | |
| Of thy beloved. | |
| |
| Cling with life to the maid; | |
| But when the surprise, | 35 |
| First vague shadow of surmise, | |
| Flits across her bosom young, | |
| Of a joy apart from thee, | |
| Free be she, fancy-free; | |
| Nor thou detain her vesture's hem, | 40 |
| Nor the palest rose she flung | |
| From her summer diadem. | |
| |
| Though thou loved her as thyself, | |
| As a self of purer clay; | |
| Though her parting dims the day, | 45 |
| Stealing grace from all alive; | |
| Heartily know, | |
| When half-gods go | |
| The gods arrive. | |
|
|
