(no subject)

[verb_impulsion]

Weep no more but pity me,
Fleet persistent shadow cast
By your lameness, caught at last,
Helplessly in love with you,
Elegance, art, fascination,
Fascinated by
Drab mortality;
Spare me a humiliation,
To your faults be true:
I can sing as you reply
. . . I

Wish for nothing lest you mar
The perfection in these eyes
Whose entire devotion lies
At the mercy of your will;
Tempt not your sworn comrade,-only
As I am can I
Love you as you are-
For my company be lonley
For my health be ill:
I will sing if you will cry
. . . I

Never hope to say farewell,
For our lethargy is such
Heaven's kindness cannot touch
Nor earth's frankly brutal drum;
This was long ago decided,
Both of us know why,
Can, alas, foretell,
When you falsehoods are divided,
What we shall become,
One evaporating sigh
. . . I

Auden, The Sea And The Mirror, "Ariel To Caliban"