The speaker is caught between frustration and adoration. She begs her lover not to torment her with petty moods or demands, because romantic love itself is the true master and her partner is only its lesser, human reflection. When he acts generously as Love, she can love him fully; when he becomes tyrannous and bitter, he drags something divine down to earth. H.D. creates an image of Eros as a god meant to dart upward in passionate flight. If the beloved keeps sulking or controlling, he turns that god into a broken, grounded thing—a “lop-winged” figure, frozen and sorry for itself. The mood is urgent and almost imploring, but also idealistic: the speaker wants the relationship to remain a soaring, generous force rather than a small, earthbound quarrel.
Epigrams 2 — Summary
Torture me not with this or that or this, Love is my master, you his lesser self; while you are Love, I love you generously, be Eros, not a tyrannous, bitter mate: Love has no charm when Love is swept to earth: you’d make a lop-winged god, frozen and contrite, of god up-darting, winged for passionate flight.