Poems (Procter)/A Warning

by Adelaide Anne Procter

For works with similar titles, see A Warning.

A WARNING.

LACE your hands in mine, dear,
 With their rose-leaf touch:
If you heed my warning,
 It will spare you much.

Ah! with just such smiling
 Unbelieving eyes,
Years ago I heard it:—
 You shall be more wise.

You have one great treasure,
 Joy for all your life;
Do not let it perish
 In one reckless strife

Do not venture all, child,
 In one frail, weak heart;
So, through any shipwreck,
 You may save a part.

Where your soul is tempted
 Most to trust your fate,
There, with double caution,
 Linger, fear, and wait.

Measure all you give, still
 Counting what you take;
Love for love: so placing
 Each an equal stake.

Treasure love; though ready
 Still to live without.
In your fondest trust, keep
 Just one thread of doubt.

Build on no to-morrow;
 Love has but to-day:
If the links seem slackening,
 Cut the bond away.

Trust no prayer nor promise;
 Words are grains of sand:
To keep your heart unbroken,
 Hold it in your hand.

That your love may finish
 Calm as it begun,
Learn this lesson better,
 Dear, than I have done.

Years hence, perhaps, this warning
 You shall give again,
In just the self-same words, dear,
 And—just as much—in vain.