What torture lurks within a single thought <br />When grown too constant, and however kind, <br />However welcome still, the weary mind <br />Aches with its presence. Dull remembrance taught <br />Remembers on unceasingly; unsought <br />The old delight is with us but to find <br />That all recurring joy is pain refined, <br />Become a habit, and we struggle, caught. <br />You lie upon my heart as on a nest, <br />Folded in peace, for you can never know <br />How crushed I am with having you at rest <br />Heavy upon my life. I love you so <br />You bind my freedom from its rightful quest. <br />In mercy lift your drooping wings and go.<br /><br />Amy Lowell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-fixed-idea/
