The Coquette, and After
For long the cruel wish I knewThat your free heart should ache for meWhile mine should bear no ache for you;For, long—the cruel wish!—I knewHow men can feel, and craved to viewMy triumph—fated not to beFor long! . . . The cruel wish I knewThat your free heart should ache for me!
At last one pays the penalty—The woman—women always do.My farce, I found, was tragedyAt last!—One pays the penaltyWith interest when one, fancy-free,Learns love, learns shame . . . Of sinners twoAt last one pays the penalty—The woman—women always do!
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