Nature
And These for You: II. Asking Forgiveness
From Poems New and Old (1920)
I did not say, "Yes, we had better part
Since love is over or must be suppressed."
I did not say, "I'll hold you in my heart
Saint-like, and in the thought of your thought rest,
And pray for you and wish you happiness
In a better love than mine."
I was another man to another woman,
Tears falling or burnt dry were nothing then.
I struck your heart, I struck your mind; inhuman,
Future and past I stabbed and stabbed again,
Cursing the very thought of your happiness
In another love than mine:
--Then left you sick to death, and I like death.
It was a broken body bore me away--
A broken mind--poisoned by my own breath,
And love self-poisoned.... Was it but yesterday?
--Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive,
Forgive!
Cite this poem
MLA
Freeman, John. “And These for You: II. Asking Forgiveness.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/freeman/92/.
Chicago
Freeman, John. “And These for You: II. Asking Forgiveness.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/freeman/92/.
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