THE WORST OF IT.

1.

Would it were I had been false, not you:

I that am nothing, not you that are all : I, never the worse for a touch or two

On my speckled hide; not you, the pride Of the day, my swan, that a first fleck’s fall

On her wonder of white must unswan, undo!

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2.

I had dipped in life's struggle, and out again,

Bore specks of it here, there, easy to see, When I found my swan and the cure was plain ;

The dull turned bright as I caught your white On my bosom: you saved me - saved in vain

If you ruined yourself, and all through me!

3.

Yes, all through the speckled beast that I am,

Who taught you to stoop ; you gave me yourself, And bound your soul by the vows that damn:

Since on better thought you break, as you ought, Vows - words, no angel set down, some elf

Mistook, - for an oath, an epigram!

4.

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Yes, might I judge you, here were my heart,

And a hundred its like, to treat as you pleased ! I choose to be yours, for my proper part,

Yours, leave or take, or mar me or make ; If I acquiesce, why should you be teased

With the conscience-prick and the memory-smart?

5.

But what will God say ? O, my sweet,

Think, and be sorry you did this thing !
Though earth were unworthy to feel your feet,
There's a Heaven above

may
deserve your

love: Should

you

forfeit Heaven for a snapt gold ring And a promise broke, were it just or meet ?

6.

And I to have tempted you! I, who tried

Your soul, no doubt, till it sank! Unwise, I loved, and was lowly, loved and aspired,

Loved, grieving or glad, till I made you mad, And you meant to have hated and despised -

Whereas you deceived me nor inquired !

7.

She, ruined ? How? No Heaven for her ?

Crowns to give, and none for the brow
That looked like marble and smelt like myrrh ?

Shall the robe be worn, and the palm-branch borne, And she go graceless, she graced now

Beyond all saints, as themselves aver ?

8.

Hardly! That must be understood !

The earth is your place of penance, then ;
And what will it prove? I desire your good,

But, plot as I may, I can find no way
How a blow should fall, such as falls on men,

Nor prove too much for your womanhood.

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9.

It will come, I suspect, at the end of life,
When

you

walk alone, and review the past; And I, who so long shall have done with strife,

And journeyed my stage, and earned my wage, And retired as was right, - I am called at last

When the Devil stabs you, to lend the knife.

10.

He stabs for the minute of trivial wrong,

Nor the other hours are able to save, The happy, that lasted my whole life long :

For a promise broke, not for first words spoke, The true, the only, that turn my grave

To a blaze of joy and a crash of song.

11.

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Witness beforehand! Off I trip

On a safe path gay through the flowers you flung : My very name made great by your lip,

And my heart aglow with the good I know Of a perfect year when we both were young,

And I tasted the angels' fellowship.

12.

And witness, moreover ... Ab, but wait!
I

spy the loop whence an arrow shoots ! It may be for yourself, when you meditate,

That you grieve — for slain ruth, murdered truth : “ Though falsehood escape in the end, what boots ? How truth would have triumphed !”.

you sigh too late.

13.

Ay, who would have triumphed like you, I say!

Well, it is lost now; well, you must bear, Abide and grow fit for a better day:

You should hardly grudge, could I be your judge ! But hush! For you, can be no despair :

There's amends : 't is a secret : hope and pray!

14.

For I was true at least — O, true enough!

And, dear, truth is not as good as it seems ! Commend me to conscience ! Idle stuff!

Much help is in mine, as I mope and pine, And skulk through day, and scowl in my dreams

At my swan's obtaining the crow's rebuff.