One Day I Told My Love

One day I told my love my heart,
Disclosed it out and in;
I let her read the ill-writ chart
Small with virtue, big with sin.

I took it from the hidden socket
Where it was wont to grieve;
“I’ll turn it,” I said, “into a locket,
Or a bright band for your sleeve.”

I let her hold the naked thing
No one had seen before;
And had she willed, her hand might wring
It dry and drop it to the floor.

It was a gentle thing she did,
The wisest and the best;
“The proper place for a heart,” she said,
“Is back in the sheltering breast.”