Volume IV Part 25 (2/2)

You love all, you say: Therefore, Dear, abate me Just your love, I pray!

Shut your eyes and hate me-- Only _me_--fair May!

AMY'S CRUELTY.

I.

Fair Amy of the terraced house, a.s.sist me to discover Why you who would not hurt a mouse Can torture so your lover.

II.

You give your coffee to the cat, You stroke the dog for coming, And all your face grows kinder at The little brown bee's humming.

III.

But when _he_ haunts your door ... the town Marks coming and marks going ...

You seem to have st.i.tched your eyelids down To that long piece of sewing!

IV.

You never give a look, not you, Nor drop him a ”Good morning,”

To keep his long day warm and blue, So fretted by your scorning.

V.

She shook her head--”The mouse and bee For crumb or flower will linger: The dog is happy at my knee, The cat purrs at my finger.

VI.

”But _he_ ... to _him_, the least thing given Means great things at a distance; He wants my world, my sun, my heaven, Soul, body, whole existence.

VII.

”They say love gives as well as takes; But I'm a simple maiden,-- My mother's first smile when she wakes I still have smiled and prayed in.

VIII.

”I only know my mother's love Which gives all and asks nothing; And this new loving sets the groove Too much the way of loathing.

IX.

”Unless he gives me all in change, I forfeit all things by him: The risk is terrible and strange-- I tremble, doubt, ... deny him.

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