Reserve

Reserve

1You that are dear, O you above the rest!
2Forgive him his evasive moods and cold;
3The absence that belied him oft of old,
4The war upon sad speech, the desperate jest,
5And pity’s wildest gush but half-confessed,
6Forgive him! Let your gentle memories hold
7Some written word once tender and once bold,
8Or service done shamefacedly at best,
9Whereby to judge him. All his days he spent,
10Like one who with an angel wrestled well,
11O’ermastering Love with show of light disdain;
12And whatso’er your spirits underwent,
13He, wounded for you, worked no miracle
14To make his heart’s allegiance wholly plain.
Publication Notes
Guiney, Louise Imogen, Songs at the Start (Boston: Cupples, Upham and Company, 1884): 36. PS 1767 S6 Robarts Library
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire