Should ever the day come when this drear world Shall read the secret which so close I hold, Should taunts and jeers at my bowed head be hurled, And all my love and all my shame be told, I could not, as some doughtier women do, Fling jests and gold and live the scandal down, Nor, knowing all fame's bruitings to be true, Keep a proud face and brave the talk of town. I have no courage for such tricks and ways, No wish to flaunt a once well-honoured name. I have too dear a thought of earlier days, Too deep a dread of my deserved shame. So, when it comes, with one last suppliant cry For pardon from my wronged ones, I must die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HAMATREYA by RALPH WALDO EMERSON AFTER THE PLEASURE PARTY by HERMAN MELVILLE COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE NEAR CALAIS [AUGUST 1802] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A SONNET. LOVE'S CONTRARIETY by PHILIP AYRES EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 43. ALL GRASP, ALL LOSE by PHILIP AYRES SONGS OF NIGHT TO MORNING: 1. AT THE THEATRE by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |