Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BORROWED THOUGHTS: 2. FROM 'PHANTASIES', by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BORROWED THOUGHTS: 2. FROM 'PHANTASIES', by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have a bitter thought, a snake
Last Line: Lest it should hear me and awake.
Alternate Author Name(s): Berwick, Mary
Subject(s): Hearts; Life; Pain; Thought; Suffering; Misery; Thinking


I HAVE a bitter Thought, a Snake
That used to sting my life to pain,
I strove to cast it far away,
But every night and every day
It crawled back to my heart again;

It was in vain to live or strive,
To think or sleep, to work or pray;
At last I bade this thing accursed
Gnaw at my heart, and do its worst,
And so I let it have its way.

Thus said I, "I shall never fall
Into a false and dreaming peace,
And then awake, with sudden start,
To feel it biting at my heart,
For now the pain can never cease."

But I gained more; for I have found
That such a snake's envenomed charm
Must always, always find a part,
Deep in the centre of my heart,
Which it can never wound or harm.

It is coiled round my heart to-day.
It sleeps at times, this cruel snake,
And while it sleeps it never stings: --
Hush! let us talk of other things,
Lest it should hear me and awake.





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