LOVE! IF A GOD THOU ART
Love! if a god thou art,
Then evermore thou must
Be merciful and just;
If thou be just, O wherefore doth thy dart
Wound mine alone, and not my lady’s heart?
If merciful, then why
Am I to pain reserved,
Who have thee truly served,
While she, that by thy power fits not afly,
Laughs thee to scorn, and lives at liberty?
Then, if a god thou wilt accounted be,
Heal me like her, or else wound her like me.
Francis Davison.