Release

I asked to be released, I did not know
’Twas hate, not love, that would not let me go.
Vengeance had burned your image on my mind,
I gazed and gazed until my eyes were blind.
Now--neither pride nor love has set me free,
But happy chance--in wonderful degree.

Shackled by memory, a prey to fear,
Once you were mine by the black load I bore,
But now, released, I lose you--O my Dear,
Ever, irrevocably mine no more!