What shall we do with Margery? She lies and cries upon her bed, All lily-pale from foot to head, Her heart is sore as sore can be; Poor guileless shamefaced Margery. A foolish girl, to love a man And let him know she loved him so! She should have tried a different plan; Have loved, but not have let him know: Then he perhaps had loved her so. What can we do with Margery Who has no relish for her food? We'd take her with us to the sea -- Across the sea -- but where's the good? She'd fret alike on land and sea. Yes, what the neighbours say is true: Girls should not make themselves so cheap. But now it's done what can we do? I hear her moaning in her sleep, Moaning and sobbing in her sleep. I think -- and I'm of flesh and blood -- Were I that man for whom she cares I would not cost her tears and prayers To leave her just alone like mud, Fretting her simple heart with cares. A year ago she was a child, Now she's a woman in her grief; The year's now at the falling leaf, At budding of the leaves she smiled; Poor foolish harmless foolish child. It was her own fault? so it was. If every own fault found us out Dogged us and snared us round about, What comfort should we take because Not half our due we thus wrung out? At any rate the question stands: What now to do with Margery, A weak poor creature on our hands? Something we must do: I'll not see Her blossom fade, sweet Margery. Perhaps a change may after all Prove best for her: to leave behind Those home-sights seen time out of mind; To get beyond the narrow wall Of home, and learn home is not all. Perhaps this way she may forget, Not all at once, but in a while; May come to wonder how she set Her heart on this slight thing, and smile At her own folly, in a while. Yet this I say and I maintain: Were I the man she's fretting for I should my very self abhor If I could leave her to her pain, Uncomforted to tears and pain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CATS' MONTH by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS ANDREA DEL SARTO (CALLED THE FAULTLESS PAINTER) by ROBERT BROWNING BUNKER HILL by GEORGE HENRY CALVERT DIRGE OF RORY O'MORE; 1642 by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE GO NOW' by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 42. AL-JAMIL by EDWIN ARNOLD |