Poems (Shore)/A Last Avowal

by Louisa Catherine Shore

A LAST AVOWAL

Dear friend, although our youth is over,
 E'en now it may your pity move
That you, who never were my lover,
 I yet was wretch enough to love.

Yes, look me in the face, dear friend—
 Hear calmly what I have to say;
The long despair is at an end,
 And yet this is a solemn day.

This is the day when first we met—
 A dreamer I, like other girls;
Oh need I ask if you forget
 My rosy cheeks and shining curls?

But you, you are almost the same
 As when I gazed upon you then;
I smile, and yet I blush with shame
 To act my madness o'er again.

And how recount the slow degrees
 By which my life's sad passion grew,
Till every pleasure ceased to please,
 Save one—to see and talk with you?

Oh God! my age grows young again,
 Recalling that forgotten time,
And my heart struggles with the pain
 That almost crushed it in its prime.

Dear friend, my secret now is told;
 You listen with a grave surprise;
Why should I blush, now both are old,
 To meet the wonder in those eyes?