To Olivia

Francis Thompson 1859 (City of Preston, Lancashire) – 1907 (London)



I fear to love thee, Sweet, because
Love's the ambassador of loss;
White flake of childhood, clinging so
To my soiled raiment, thy shy snow
At tenderest touch will shrink and go.
Love me not, delightful child.
My heart, by many snares beguiled,
Has grown timorous and wild.
It would fear thee not at all,
Wert thou not so harmless-small.
Because thy arrows, not yet dire,
Are still unbarbed with destined fire,
I fear thee more than hadst thou stood
Full-panoplied in womanhood.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 15, 2023

25 sec read
113

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCCCDDDEEFGHH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 486
Words 85
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Francis Thompson

The Rt Rev Francis William Banahene Thompson was Bishop of Accra from 1983 to 1996. more…

All Francis Thompson poems | Francis Thompson Books

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