Poems (Procter)/A Woman's Last Word

by Adelaide Anne Procter

A WOMAN'S LAST WORD.

ELL—the links are broken,
  All is past;
This farewell, when spoken,
  Is the last.
I have tried and striven
  All in vain;
Such bonds must be riven,
  Spite of pain,
And never, never, never
  Knit again.

So I tell you plainly,
  It must be:
I shall try, not vainly,
  To be free;
Truer, happier chances
  Wait me yet,
While you, through fresh fancies,
  Can forget;—
And life has nobler uses
  Than Regret.

All past words retracing,
  One by one,
Does not help effacing
  What is done.
Let it be. O, stronger
  Links can break!
Had we dreamed still longer
  We could wake,—
Yet let us part in kindness
  For Love's sake.

Bitterness and sorrow
  Will at last,
In some bright to-morrow,
  Heal their past;
But future hearts will never
  Be as true
As mine was—is ever,
  Dear, for you . . . . .
. . Then must we part, when loving
  As we do?