When First I Loved

By Taj Mahjomed

When first I loved, I gave my very soul
Utterly unreserved to love's control,
But love deceived me, wrenched my youth away
And made the gold of life for ever grey.

Long I lived lonely, yet I tried in vain
With any other Joy to stifle pain;
There is no other Joy, I learned to know,
And so returned to love, as long ago.

Yet I, this little while ere I go hence,
Love very lightly now, in self-defence.