Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


RECRIMINATION by THEODOSIA (PICKERING) GARRISON

First Line: SO LONG YOU WALKED UPON THE SELFSAME WAY
Last Line: TO CRY TO ONE BELOVED WHO WILL NOT HEED.
Subject(s): DROWNING;

SO long you walked upon the selfsame way --
The crooked paths of many a night and day --
You, who have passed the pitfalls and the snares,
Could you not warn me where I went astray?

@3O child, did I not call -- my fears, my prayers
Drowned in your laughter, jubilant and gay.@1

Now, from the happy heights whereon you stand,
Why could you not have stretched a guiding hand,
Or pointed but a pathway for my feet
That stumbled blindly in this unlit land?

@3O child, you found your gypsying so sweet,
What, though I strove, you would not understand!@1

Nay, but some mark you might have left behind,
Some token that my frightened eyes might find;
Some little sign to bid me know and stay
And find my pathway ere the day declined.

@3O child, my feet were bleeding all the way,
Yet to their stains so blind you were -- so blind!@1

Now, if some day I gain my goal indeed,
Will I find solace for my want and need?
Ah, surely never evil may befall
As sore as these sad wounds wherewith I bleed!

@3O child, you too must know the worst of all --
To cry to one beloved who will not heed.@1



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