Do Not Love Me Yet

Do not love me yet, for I
Am still a slender moon,
A scimitar about the heart
Too sharp to touch too soon.

Before I'm touched I need to grow
More full in golden light;
I need to smile upon my earth
And rule some patch of night.

I need to know what roads and fields
Lie in my domain
And dull my brand new ecstasies
With sophomoric pain.

I need the love of some blank boy
As cold and dark as me,
That we might grope in ignorance
And fear of what might be.

And then when I'm a silver bowl
And know what I can hold,
Then, then, perhaps, we could try love
If you are not too old.

By Turlough O'Carolan.
Copyright by
Nicholas Gordon