Who the loser, who the winner,
If the Fancy fail as preacher?—
None who loved was yet beginner
Though another's love-beseecher;
Love's revealment‘ s of the inner
Life and deity, the teacher.
Who may falsify the feeling
To the lover who is loser?
Has she felt:— the mere revealing
Of the passion‘ s his accuser;
She conceals it; the concealing
Is her own love's self-abuser.
One hath said, no flower knoweth
Of the fragrance it revealeth;
Song, its soul that overfloweth,
Never nightingale's heart feeleth —
Such the love the spirit groweth,
Love unconscious if it healeth.