<h2><SPAN name="page74"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>LOVE.</h2>
<p class="poetry"><span class="smcap">Canst</span> thou love me,
lady?<br/>
I’ve not learn’d to woo:<br/>
Thou art on the shady<br/>
Side of sixty too.<br/>
Still I love thee dearly!<br/>
Thou hast lands and pelf:<br/>
But I love thee merely<br/>
Merely for thyself.</p>
<p class="poetry">Wilt thou love me, fairest?<br/>
Though thou art not fair;<br/>
And I think thou wearest<br/>
Someone-else’s hair.<br/>
<SPAN name="page75"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>Thou
could’st love, though, dearly:<br/>
And, as I am told,<br/>
Thou art very nearly<br/>
Worth thy weight, in gold.</p>
<p class="poetry">Dost thou love me, sweet one?<br/>
Tell me that thou dost!<br/>
Women fairly beat one,<br/>
But I think thou must.<br/>
Thou art loved so dearly:<br/>
I am plain, but then<br/>
Thou (to speak sincerely)<br/>
Art as plain again.</p>
<p class="poetry">Love me, bashful fairy!<br/>
I’ve an empty purse:<br/>
And I’ve “moods,” which vary;<br/>
Mostly for the worse.<br/>
<SPAN name="page76"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>Still, I
love thee dearly:<br/>
Though I make (I feel)<br/>
Love a little queerly,<br/>
I’m as true as steel.</p>
<p class="poetry">Love me, swear to love me<br/>
(As, you know, they do)<br/>
By yon heaven above me<br/>
And its changeless blue.<br/>
Love me, lady, dearly,<br/>
If you’ll be so good;<br/>
Though I don’t see clearly<br/>
On what ground you should.</p>
<p class="poetry">Love me—ah or love me<br/>
Not, but be my bride!<br/>
Do not simply shove me<br/>
(So to speak) aside!<br/>
<SPAN name="page77"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
77</span>P’raps it would be dearly<br/>
Purchased at the price;<br/>
But a hundred yearly<br/>
Would be very nice.</p>
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