Ballads and Lyrical poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Once I thought I could adore him,
Rich or poor, beloved the same;
Now I hate him and abhor him,
Now I loathe his very name;
Spurn'd at when I sued for pity,
Robb'd of peace and virgin fame.

II

If my hatred could consume him,
Soul and body, heart and brain;
If my will had power to doom him
To eternity of pain;
I would strike—and die, confessing
That I had not lived in vain.

III

Oh, if in my bosom lying,
I could work him deadly scathe!
Oh, if I could clasp him, dying,
And receive his parting breath—
In one burst of burning passion
I would kiss him into death!

IV

I would cover with embraces
Lips that once his love confess'd,
And that falsest of false faces,
Mad, enraptured, unrepress'd;
Then in agony of pity
I would die upon his breast.