Love Thee ?

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1 id="id03039" style="margin-top: 6em">LOVE THEE?</h1> <p id="id03040" style="margin-top: 2em">Love thee?—so well, so tenderly<br/> Thou'rt loved, adored by me,<br/> Fame, fortune, wealth, and liberty,<br/> Were worthless without thee.<br/> Tho' brimmed with blessings, pure and rare,<br/> Life's cup before me lay,<br/> Unless thy love were mingled there,<br/> I'd spurn the draft away.<br/> Love thee?—so well, so tenderly,<br/> Thou'rt loved, adored by me,<br/> Fame, fortune, wealth, and liberty,<br/> Are worthless without thee.<br/></p> <p id="id03041">Without thy smile, the monarch's lot<br/> To me were dark and lone,<br/> While, <i>with</i> it, even the humblest cot<br/> Were brighter than his throne.<br/> Those worlds for which the conqueror sighs<br/> For me would have no charms;<br/> My only world thy gentle eyes—<br/> My throne thy circling arms!<br/> Oh, yes, so well, so tenderly<br/> Thou'rt loved, adored by me,<br/> Whole realms of light and liberty<br/> Were worthless without thee.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />