Ars Amoris

By J. V. Cunningham
Speak to her heart!   
That manic force   
When wits depart   
Forbids remorse.

Dream with her dreaming   
Until her lust
Seems to her seeming   
An act of trust!

Do without doing!   
Love’s wilful potion   
Veils the ensuing,
And brief, commotion.

Copyright Credit: J. V. Cunningham, “Ars Amoris” from The Exclusions of a Rhyme: Poems and Epigrams. Copyright © 1960 by J. V. Cunningham. Reprinted with the permission of Ohio University Press/Swallow Press, Athens, Ohio.
Source: The Exclusions of a Rhyme: Poems and Epigrams (Alan Swallow Press, 1960)