Ballade Of The Unchanged Beloved

(TO I----a)

When rumour fain would fright my ear
With the destruction and decay
Of things familiar and dear,
And vaunt of a swift-running day
That sweeps the fair old Past away;
Whatever else be strange and new,
All other things may go or stay,
So that there be no change in you.

These loud mutations others fear
Find me high-fortressed 'gainst dismay,
They trouble not the tranquil sphere
That hallows with immortal ray
The world where love and lovers stray
In glittering gardens soft with dew--
O let them break and burn and slay,
So that there be no change in you.

Let rapine its republics rear,
And murder its red sceptre sway,
Their blood-stained riot comes not near
The quiet haven where we pray,
And work and love and laugh and play;
Unchanged, our skies are ever blue,
Nothing can change, for all they say,--
So that there be no change in you.

ENVOI

Princess, let wild men brag and bray,
The pure, the beautiful, the true.
Change not, and changeless we as they--
So that there be no change in you.