Destroyers and Other Verses/You Dominate My Lightest Thought
You dominate my lightest thought,Even in words that I was taughtNightly to pray I seem to hearThe long-drawn chuckle of your sneer.
And when I lay me down in bed,Your words go trooping through my head,Your kisses on my body burnAnd hot with shame I toss and turn.
You kiss my hands, you kiss my hair,And when I cry in my despair,"God save me from so fierce a bane,"I hear your voice in mine again.
Where 'er I go, what 'er I do,I suffer for my thoughts of you;Must my tormented senses payThe price of pity night and day?
Paris, 1855.