University of Virginia Library


337

APOLOGY.

Nay, darling, darling, do not frown,
Nor call my words unkind:
For my speech was but an idle jest,
As idle as the wind.
And now that I see your tender heart,
By my thoughtlessness is grieved,
I suffer both for the pain I gave,
And the pain that you received.
For if ever I have a thought of you,
That cold or cruel seems.
I have murdered my peace, and robbed my sleep
Of the joy of its happy dreams.
And when I have brought a cloud of grief
To your sweet face unaware,
Its shadow covers all my sky
With the blackness of despair.
And if in your pillow I have set
But one sharp thorn, alone,
That cruel, careless deed, transplants
A thousand to my own.
I grieve with your grief, I die in your frown,
In your joy alone I live:
And the blow that it pained your heart to feel,
I would break my own to give!