TRUE LOVE, a poem

TRUE love is not a conquest won,
     But a perpetual winning;
A tireless service bravely done
     And ever new-beginning;

Gold will not buy it for to-day
     Nor keep it for to-morrow,
From Pleasure's path it turns away,
     To make its bed with Sorrow.

White, Aphrodite, are thy doves,
     But 'neath their snows are burning,
Undying flames, and he who loves
     Aspires with flame-like yearning:

Aspires unto a far-off bliss
     Whose vision makes him younger,
And moved to rapture by thy kiss,
     Still for thy soul doth hunger!

"True Love" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in Poems (1898) and Poems (1916) Volume I.