My Lady

How the mere sight of you, my Love, can drive me to madness!

Bedecked in fashion trim,
With every curl a-quiver;
Or leaping, light of limb,
O’er rivulet and river;
Or skipping o’er the lea
On daffodil and daisy;
Or stretched beneath a tree,
All languishing and lazy;
Whatever be her mood –
Be she demurely prude
Or languishingly lazy –
My lady drives me crazy!
In vain her heart is wooed,
Whatever be her mood!

What profit should I gain
Suppose she loved me dearly?
Her coldness turns my brain
To VERGE of madness merely.
Her kiss – though, Heaven knows,
To dream of it were treason –
Would tend, as I suppose,
To utter loss of reason!
My state is not amiss;
I would not have a kiss
Which, in or out of season,
Might tend to loss of reason:
What profit in such bliss?
A fig for such a kiss!

Love poem by William Schwenck Gilbert

Love Art – Naakte Vrouw Tussen Twee Van Elkaar Weg Kijkende Mannen Hoofden (1933) by Leo Gestel. Original from The Rijksmuseum.