The Greats

Among the great “there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of love”

~ Sir Francis Bacon

Not Yezid with Habiba, Abelard

With Heloise, not Alexander great

With love for silk Bagoas, the king’s hard

Imperial thrusts while pushing all his weight

Of lust beneath the eunuch’s waist, and not

Mark Anthony with Cleopatra, nor

The Emperor Hadrian whose reverence sought

To deify Antinous—no roar

Of passions in these men and women was

Sufficient like a lion’s roar to turn

Sir Francis—that their greatness found its laws

In something larger, strength he tried to spurn.

..They all were greater than his mean decree.

….They all proved love is nobler than degree.