To Lucinda I

I love you

But I dare not say it.

It's too great a leap,

And I can do no more than look.

I fear the circumstance would have me die alone,

For though I have loved before,

As soon as the thought

I love you

Entered my head,

Circumstance stole her,

In the guise of someone I also loved,

So I dared not make myself known:

I feared success as much as I feared failure,

And spoke too late.

So now I dare not say I love you

I dare not say I love you

But I do.