The Black Christ & Other Poems/One Day I Told My Love
One Day I Told My Love
ONE day I told my love my heart, Disclosed it out and in;I let her read the ill-writ chart Small with virtue, big with sin.
I took it from the hidden socket Where it was wont to grieve;"I'll turn it," I said, "into a locket, Or a bright band for your sleeve."
I let her hold the naked thing No one had seen before;And had she willed, her hand might wring It dry and drop it to the floor.
It was a gentle thing she did, The wisest and the best;"The proper place for a heart," she said, "Is back in the sheltering breast."