“Maids, not to you my mind doth change” (1889)

XXXIII

Ταῖς κάλαις ὕμμιν [τὸ] νόημα τὧμον
οὐ διάμειπτον·

MAIDS, not to you my mind doth change ;
Men I defy, allure, estrange,
Prostrate, make bond or free :
Soft as the stream beneath the plane
To you I sing my love’s refrain ;
Between us is no thought of pain,
Peril, satiety. 

Soon doth a lover’s patience tire,
But ye to manifold desire
Can yield response, ye know                                                           10
When for long, museful days I pine,
The presage at my heart divine ;
To you I never breathe a sign
Of inward want or woe.

When injuries my spirit bruise,
Allaying virtue ye infuse
With unobtrusive skill:
And if care frets ye come to me
As fresh as nymph from stream or tree,
And with your soft vitality                                                                  20
My weary bosom fill.