Poem by Alan Seeger

Sonnet 7. There have been times when I could storm and plead

There have been times when I could storm and plead,
But you shall never hear me supplicate.
These long months that have magnified my need
Have made my asking less importunate,
For now small favors seem to me so great
That not the courteous lovers of old time
Were more content to rule themselves and wait,
Easing desire with discourse and sweet rhyme.
Nay, be capricious, willful; have no fear
To wound me with unkindness done or said,
Lest mutual devotion make too dear
My life that hangs by a so slender thread,
And happy love unnerve me before May
For that stern part that I have yet to play.

1. Thirty Sonnets. 5. Sonnet 5. A tide of beauty with returning May
2. The Sultan's Palace
3. Thirty Sonnets. 15. Sonnet 15. Above the ruin of God's holy place
4. Thirty Sonnets. 13. Sonnet 13. I fancied, while you stood conversing there
5. Thirty Sonnets. 30. At the Tomb of Napoleon before the Elections in America--November, 1912

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