It left upon her tender flesh no trace. The murderer is safe. As swift as light The weapon fell, and, in the summer night, Did scarce the silent, dewy air displace; 'T was but a word. A blow had been less base. Like dumb beast branded by an iron white With heat, she turned in blind and helpless flight, But then remembered, and with piteous face Came back. Since then, the world has nothing missed In her, in voice or smile. But she -- each day She counts until her dying be complete. One moan she makes, and ever doth repeat: "O lips that I have loved and kissed and kissed, Did I deserve to die this bitterest way?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CORNUCOPIA OF RED AND GREEN COMFITS by AMY LOWELL HOMAGE TO SEXTUS PROPERTIUS: 11 by EZRA POUND A WINTER NIGHT by SARA TEASDALE A CORONAL by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS THREE KINGS OF ORIENT by JOHN HENRY HOPKINS JR. THE WHITE HOUSE by CLAUDE MCKAY THE DEFENSE OF THE ALAMO [MARCH 6, 1835] by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER |