Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LE MARIAGE DE CONVENANCE, by ANNA BUNSTON DE BARY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LE MARIAGE DE CONVENANCE, by                    
First Line: The cost of it! The waste of it!-this wrings
Last Line: To build yourself a tomb of yellow clay.
Subject(s): Hearts; Love - Materialism


THE cost of it! The waste of it!—this wrings
My heart. To barter love for things, things, things!
You stand begirt with all your household store,
Yet shiver, naked to the very core.
Why, ev'n from workhouse wards may come a strain,
A song and laugh—you will not sing again.
How oft, with shame and pity, have you read
Of wretched girls who sell themselves for bread,
But who shall win you back to decency
Who sold yourself for superfluity?
You give your money to the madhouse too,
But is the wildest there as mad as you?
Upon a dead swan's down the head is pressed
That might have known a living lover's breast;
And from the gold of life you turned away
To build yourself a tomb of yellow clay.





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