A FORLORN HOPE
Lest you should feel
That I am all unworthy of your grace,
I set me in your presence to reveal
Whate’er of good within my heart hath place.
Lest you should then
Love me too well at first, and then despise—
Finding I am but weak as other men—
I do not hide my folly from your eyes.
Mask’d with no sham,
When thus my strivings and my sins you see,
Although you cannot love the man I am,
You yet may love the man I strive to be.