I <br /> <br />For long the cruel wish I knew <br />That your free heart should ache for me <br />While mine should bear no ache for you; <br />For, long--the cruel wish!--I knew <br />How men can feel, and craved to view <br />My triumph--fated not to be <br />For long! . . . The cruel wish I knew <br />That your free heart should ache for me! <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />At last one pays the penalty - <br />The woman--women always do. <br />My farce, I found, was tragedy <br />At last!--One pays the penalty <br />With interest when one, fancy-free, <br />Learns love, learns shame . . . Of sinners two <br />At last ONE pays the penalty - <br />The woman--women always do!<br /><br />Thomas Hardy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-coquette-and-after-triolets/
