Poems (Chandler)/Fiat Justitia

by Louise Chandler Moulton

FIAT JUSTITIA.

ES, all is ended now, for I have weighed thee,—
 Weighed the light love that has been held so dear,—
Weighed word and look and smile, that have betrayed thee,
 The careless grace that was not worth a tear.

Holding these scales, I marvel at the anguish
 For thing so slight that long my heart has torn,—
For God's great sun the prisoner's eyes might languish,
 Not for a torch by some chance passer borne.

I do not blame thee for thy heedless playing
 On the strong chords whose answer was so full,—
Do children care, through daisied meadows straying,
 What hap befalls the blossoms that they pull?

Go on, gay trifler! Take thy childish pleasure:
 On thee, for thee, may summer always shine:
Too stern were Justice, should she seek to measure
 Thy fitful love by the strong pain of mine.