The poem
Love without hope, as when the young bird-catcher Swept off his tall hat to the Squire's own daughter, So let the imprisoned larks escape and fly Singing about her head, as she rode by.
Love Without Hope
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- s.d.ushernuthamarried91 words
Don't THINK I'm sentimental but I met this poem through a "Poetry on the Underground" site in a Tube train carriage many years ago and value it to this day.
It's simple but not naive and affection rings through it, somehow. Memorised (sort of) on the spot, it enters my mind once or twice a year and makes me smile and feel better.
Wonderful that Graves endured the nightmare of being an infantry officer in Flanders during the First World War and still produced such a pure celebration of love ...