THE GARDEN OF LOVE

THE GARDEN OF LOVE



I laid me down upon a bank,

Where Love lay
sleeping;

I heard among the rushes dank

Weeping, weeping.



Then I
went to the heath and the wild,

To the thistles and thorns of the
waste;

And they told me how they were beguiled,

Driven out, and compelled
to the chaste.



I went to the Garden of Love,

And saw what I never had
seen;

A Chapel was built in the midst,

Where I used to play on the
green.



And the gates of this Chapel were shut

And "Thou shalt not,"
writ over the door;

So I turned to the Garden of Love

That so many sweet
flowers bore.



And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tombstones
where flowers should be;

And priests in black gowns were walking their
rounds,

And binding with briars my joys and desires.