On Monsieur's Departure by Queen Elizabeth I

I grieve and dare not show my discontent;
I love, and yet am forced to seem to hate;
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant;
I seem stark mute, but inwardly do prate.
I am, and not; I freeze and yet am burned,
Since from myself another self I turned.

My care is like my shadow in the sun—
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands, and lies by me, doth what I have done;
His too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest.

Some gentler passion slide into my mind,
For I am soft, and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, Love, and so be kind.
Let me or float or sink, be high or low;
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die, and so forget what love e'er meant.

Jokinen, Anniina. "Works of Queen Elizabeth".Luminarium.org. Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. 16 June 2008. Web. 07 Sept. 2011.

"I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion - I have shuddered at it. I shudder no more - I could be martyred for my religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that."

~John Keats~

"I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of imagination."

~John Keats~

"...a woman always forgets her own sorrow when someone she loves is grieving"

~Paul Laurence Dunbar~