Authors:
  • O love, whose lordly hand
    Has bridled my desires,
    And raised my hunger and my thirst
    To dignity and pride,
    Let not the strong in me and the constant
    Eat the bread or drink the wine
    That tempt my weaker self.
    Let me rather starve,
    And let my heart parch with thirst,
    And let me die and perish,
    Ere I stretch my hand
    To a cup you did not fill,
    Or a bowl you did not bless.

    "'Love' ('The Forerunner')". Poem by Khalil Gibran, gutenberg.net.au. 1920.