Amore Altiero

Since thou and I have wandered from the highway             And found with hearts reborn         This swift and unimaginable byway             Unto the hills of morn,         Shall not our love disdain the unworthy uses             Of the old time outworn?         I'll not entreat thy half unwilling graces             With humbly folded palms,         Nor seek to shake thy proud defended places             With noise of vague alarms,         Nor ask against my fortune's grim pursuing             The refuge of thy arms.         Thou'lt not withhold for pleasure vain and cruel             That which has long been mine,         Nor overheap with briefly burning fuel             A fire of flame divine,         Nor yield the key for life's profaner voices             To brawl within the shrine.         But thou shalt tell me of thy queenly pleasure             All that I must fulfil,         And I'll receive from out my royal treasure             What golden gifts I will,         So that two realms supreme and undisputed             Shall be one kingdom still.         And our high hearts shall praise the beauty hidden             In starry-minded scorn         By the same Lord who hath His servants bidden             To seek with eyes new-born         This swift and unimaginable byway             Unto the hills of morn.