I FOR long the cruel wish I knew That your free heart should ache for me While mine should bear no ache for you; For long - the cruel wish! - I knew How men can feel, and craved to view My triumph - fated not to be For long! ... The cruel wish I knew That your free heart should ache for me! II At last one pays the penalty - The woman - women always do. My farce, I found, was tragedy At last! - One pays the penalty With interest when one, fancy-free, Learns love, learns shame.... Of sinners two At last one pays the penalty - The woman - women always do! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUMMER MATURES by HELENE JOHNSON CRADLE SONG (TO A TUNE OF BLAKE'S): 1 by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE DON'T YOU WISH YOU KNEW! by A. H. B. A MIGRANT THRUSH by MARY RUSSELL BARTLETT THE CAMPUS IN VACATION by ANNE MILLAY BREMER TO THE NIGHTINGALE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |