A LOVELESS MARRIAGE IS WORSE THAN NO MARRIAGE.
WHAT MAKES THIS POEM SO REVEALING IS THE TRUTH OF THE POEM MAY APPEAR LATE IN LIFE AND AFTER YEARS UPON YEARS OF COLD, HEARTLESS MAKE BELIEVE AND PHONY SHAM. A BAD PLAY CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
MAY GOD BLESS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DECEIVED AND HAD THE MAJORITY OF THEIR LIVES UNKNOWINGLY WASTED BY A WOMAN OR MAN OF THE WORST SORT !
MAY GOD BLESS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DECEIVED AND HAD THE MAJORITY OF THEIR LIVES UNKNOWINGLY WASTED BY A WOMAN OR MAN OF THE WORST SORT !
PLEASE SEE THE JAM PACKED WONDERFUL EXPRESSION IN RED.
HIS LAST LETTER
BY ELLA WILCOX
Well, you are free;
The longed-for, lied-for, waited-for decree
Is yours to-day.
I made no protest--and you had your say,
And left me with no vestige of repute.
"Neglect, abuse, and cruelty" you charge,
With broken marriage-vows. The list was large,
But not to be denied. So I was mute.
The longed-for, lied-for, waited-for decree
Is yours to-day.
I made no protest--and you had your say,
And left me with no vestige of repute.
"Neglect, abuse, and cruelty" you charge,
With broken marriage-vows. The list was large,
But not to be denied. So I was mute.
Now you shall listen to a few plain facts
Before you go out wholly from my life
As some man's wife.
Read carefully this statement of your acts
Which changed the luster of my honeymoon
To somber gloom,
And wrenched the cover from Pandora's box.
Before you go out wholly from my life
As some man's wife.
Read carefully this statement of your acts
Which changed the luster of my honeymoon
To somber gloom,
And wrenched the cover from Pandora's box.
In those first talks
'Twixt bride and groom, I showed you my whole heart;
Showed you how deep my love was and how true;
With all a strong man's feeling I loved you.
(God, how I loved you, my own chosen mate!)
But I learned this
(So poorly did you play your little part):
You married marriage--to avoid the fate
Of having "Miss"
Carved on your tombstone. Love you did not know;
But you were greedy for the showy things
That money brings.
Such weak affection as you could bestow
Was given the provider, not the lover.
'Twixt bride and groom, I showed you my whole heart;
Showed you how deep my love was and how true;
With all a strong man's feeling I loved you.
(God, how I loved you, my own chosen mate!)
But I learned this
(So poorly did you play your little part):
You married marriage--to avoid the fate
Of having "Miss"
Carved on your tombstone. Love you did not know;
But you were greedy for the showy things
That money brings.
Such weak affection as you could bestow
Was given the provider, not the lover.
The knowledge hurt. Keen pain like that is dumb
And masks itself in smiles, lest men discover.
But I was lonely, and the feeling grew
The more I studied you.
Into your shallow heart love could not come;
But yet you loved my love, because it gave
The prowess of a mistress o'er a slave.
You showed your power
In petty tyranny, hour after hour,
Day after day, year after lengthening year;
My tasks, my pleasures, my pursuits were not
Held near or dear,
Or made to seem important in your thought.
My friends were not your friends; you goaded me
By foolish and ignoble jealousy.
Till, through suggestion's laws,
I gave you cause.
The beauteous ideal love had hung
In my soul's shrine,
And worshiped as a something all divine,
With wanton hand you flung
Into the dust. And then you wondered why
My love should die.
And masks itself in smiles, lest men discover.
But I was lonely, and the feeling grew
The more I studied you.
Into your shallow heart love could not come;
But yet you loved my love, because it gave
The prowess of a mistress o'er a slave.
You showed your power
In petty tyranny, hour after hour,
Day after day, year after lengthening year;
My tasks, my pleasures, my pursuits were not
Held near or dear,
Or made to seem important in your thought.
My friends were not your friends; you goaded me
By foolish and ignoble jealousy.
Till, through suggestion's laws,
I gave you cause.
The beauteous ideal love had hung
In my soul's shrine,
And worshiped as a something all divine,
With wanton hand you flung
Into the dust. And then you wondered why
My love should die.
My sins and derelictions cry aloud
To all the world. My head is bowed
Under its merited reproaches. Yours
Is lifted to receive
The sympathy the court's decree insures.
The world loves to believe
In Man's depravity and Woman's worth;
But I am one of many men on earth
Whose loud, resounding fall
Is like the crashing of some well-built wall,
Which those who seek can trace
To the slow work of insects at its base.
To all the world. My head is bowed
Under its merited reproaches. Yours
Is lifted to receive
The sympathy the court's decree insures.
The world loves to believe
In Man's depravity and Woman's worth;
But I am one of many men on earth
Whose loud, resounding fall
Is like the crashing of some well-built wall,
Which those who seek can trace
To the slow work of insects at its base.
Be not afraid;
The alimony will be promptly paid.
The alimony will be promptly paid.
World Voices by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
New York : Hearst's International Library Company 1916.
GLENN <><
JUST WEST OF YESTERDAY !
New York : Hearst's International Library Company 1916.
GLENN <><
JUST WEST OF YESTERDAY !
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