Sweet gentle fawn, how shall I make
Approach upon your tenderness,
Timidity so not to shake,
And my heart's feelings to confess?
I fear to make a sudden sound
And startle you, turn you to flight,
Who dwells in beauty, lest you bound
Forever far away from sight.
Therefore I linger, love transfixed,
Afraid to breathe, or make a sign,
Lest swift rejection fall betwixt
Desire and what it claims is mine.
Impossibility to touch,
Yet I will stroke "your tannish hair,"
Your body so to press and clutch
That gives my body its repair.