As I lay on the stranger's bed, And clasped the stranger-woman I had hired, Desiring only memory dead Of all that I had once desired; It was then that I wholly knew How wholly I had loved you, and, my friend, While I am I, and you are you, How I must love you to the end. For I lay in her arms awake, Awake and cursing the indifferent night, That ebbed so slowly, for your sake, My heart's desire, my soul's delight; For I lay in her arms awake, Awake in such a solitude of shame, That when I kissed her, for your sake, My lips were sobbing on your name. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOTHER AND SON by KAREN SWENSON THREE GATES [OF GOLD] by ELIZABETH DAYTON RONDEAU by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY HIGH FLIGHT by JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR. PLAYING IT SAFE by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE YELLOW BADGE by RUTH SCHECHTER ALEXANDER |