A Woman's Last Word

A Woman's Last Word

Original Text
Palace–Burner: The Selected Poetry of Sarah Piatt (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2001): 144.
1Promise me nothing. Men are mortal. I
3(The grave is deeper than the heavens are high.)
4    My house – of Love – was builded on the sand.
5Promise me nothing. That the heart will rain
6    On eyes whose tears are done
7And lips that will not kiss you back again
9Promise me nothing. You but said "Till death,"
10    Even with my wedding-ring.
11Promise me nothing, lest with my last breath
12    I make you promise – only everything!
13Promise me nothing. One day you will buy
15Then, if the dead walk in their sleep, must I
16    Come, shivering, back to say – "I told you so"?

Notes

2] Loose ... my hand: free her hand (given to him at the marriage ceremony). Back to Line
8] I know, for one: at least one, I myself, know this (that my lips will not return your kiss). Back to Line
14] another ring: another wedding ring (to give a different woman, your second wife). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1895
Publication Notes
Child's-World Ballads (1895).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004
Rhyme
Form