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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FOOLS' WISDOM by WILLIAM BRIAN HOOKER

First Line: YOU THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME, DEAR - UNTIL YOU READ
Last Line: DEAR, WE SHALL STILL HAVE ALL ETERNITY.

You thought you loved me, Dear -- until you read
In me what Love was; then That Other came
Who won your knowledge. So your dream was dead,
And my reality was put to shame.

It is a bitter thing to have no worth,
To pour oneself out utterly, in vain;
But -- these things are of earth, and turn to earth:
The lamp of pleasure and the shade of pain.

"Be wise and manly; leave such thoughts alone."
The wise ones of this world laugh Love away,
Criticise God, and play with bits of stone --
I do not wish to be as wise as they;

Only to love you perfectly, and wait,
Nor stain with any doubt our joy to be.
Never is but to-morrow. When we mate,
Dear, we shall still have all eternity.



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