To many a blushing ladye-love impart
The feelings of her timid lover's heart.
Beneath St. Valentine's protecting shroud,
Lady, I dare thy favor to beseech;
I am at once too humble and too proud
To woo thee in a fluent form of speech;
Methinks my trembling spirit could not brook
Thy cold rejoinder, or thy grave rebuke.
Therefore, my deep and never-changing love
Pours forth its ardor in this veiled disguise;