Despite and Still

Have you not read
The words in my head,
And I made part
Of your own heart?
We have been such as draw
The losing straw --
You of your gentleness,
I of my rashness,
Both of despair --
Yet still might share
This happy will:
To love despite and still.
Never let us deny
The thing's necessity,
But, O, refuse
To choose,
Where chance may seem to give
Love in alternative.

Graves, Robert. "Despite and Still." The Poems of Robert Graves. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor, (c) 1958, p. 181.
Graves, Robert. "Despite and Still." Dear Robert, Dear Spike. Avon, UK: Alan Sutton, (c) 1991, p. xxix.