A Lover’s Litanies

A single kiss becomes a lifelong grievance: the lover still feels its “glow” and “seal,” while the woman he adores has told him, “I pray thee, vex me not!”

Published in 1888, Eric Mackay’s ten litanies give voice to a lover who turns longing into prayer, praise and protest. He remembers spring walks in Keats’s Grove, dreams of a wedding, and clings to the warmth of one kiss even as his beloved’s refusal leaves him fearing that love and hope have slipped away. His ardour can sound like worship, but beneath the vows and elaborate declarations is a man struggling to accept that he may not be loved in return.
Can all this devotion draw an answer from the woman he calls his queen?

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