Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
V. Cautions and ComplaintsA Womans Question
Adelaide Anne Procter (18251864)B
Or place my hand in thine,
Before I let thy future give
Color and form to mine,
Before I peril all for thee, question thy soul to-night for me.
A shadow of regret:
Is there one link within the past
That holds thy spirit yet?
Or is thy faith as clear and free as that which I can pledge to thee?
A possible future shine,
Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe,
Untouched, unshared by mine?
If so, at any pain or cost, O, tell me before all is lost!
Within thy inmost soul,
That thou hast kept a portion back,
While I have staked the whole,
Let no false pity spare the blow, but in true mercy tell me so.
That mine cannot fulfil?
One cord that any other hand
Could better wake or still?
Speak now, lest at some future day my whole life wither and decay.
The demon-spirit, Change,
Shedding a passing glory still
On all things new and strange?
It may not be thy fault alone—but shield my heart against thine own.
And answer to my claim,
That Fate, and that to-day’s mistake—
Not thou—had been to blame?
Some soothe their conscience thus; but thou wilt surely warn and save me now.
The words would come too late;
Yet I would spare thee all remorse,
So, comfort thee, my fate—
Whatever on my heart may fall—remember, I would risk it all!