I

For long the cruel wish I knew

That your free heart should ache for me

While mine should bear no ache for you;

For, long—the cruel wish!—I knew

How men can feel, and craved to view

My triumph—fated not to be

For long! . . . The cruel wish I knew

That your free heart should ache for me!

II

At last one pays the penalty—

The woman—women always do.

My farce, I found, was tragedy

At last!—One pays the penalty

With interest when one, fancy-free,

Learns love, learns shame . . . Of sinners two

At last one pays the penalty—

The woman—women always do!