The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe :: :: University of Virginia Library

And if I lose what could not last,
With little grief that all is past,
For me, I deem my sin was small:
No broken pledges I recall;
No shaken constancy; no word
Of faith, save what might be inferred
From lips that did but warmly kiss,
Or speak, no other sense than this,—
That thou wert beautiful, and seemed
The bright ideal I had dreamed
My kind, but somewhat tardy, Fate
Would send, one day, to be my mate.
And, for a while, I looked to thee,
With fond expectancy, to see
(As suited with thy handsome face,
Fair to excess!) the inward grace,
The noble soul, the brilliant mind,
That form the flower of womankind.

The proverb says, “We live and learn”;
And so it came that I discern
(Since now I read thee, through and through,
With eyes somewhat love-blinded, too!)
A nature shallow, fickle, cold;
A judgment weak, yet over-bold;
A heart that yearns, when passion-moved,
To love? No!—only to be loved!
And yet receives the precious store,
Unconscious of the costly ore,
As an unthinking child might cry
For diamonds flashing in its eye,
Whom bits of glass had pleased as well!

I thank the Fate who broke the spell;
I thank thee for the petty spite,
That for a small, imagined slight,
(Though graver sins had passed unseen!)
At last dethroned my Fancy's queen,
And left me musing how a face
Which once had worn so sweet a grace
Could, in a moment, (wondrous change!)
Its warmest worshiper estrange!