Here now, for evermore, our lives must part. <br /> My path leads there, and yours another way. <br />What shall we do with this fond love, dear heart? <br /> It grows a heavier burden day by day. <br /> <br />Hide it? In all earth’s caverns, void and vast, <br /> There is not room enough to hide it, dear; <br />Not even the mighty storehouse of the past <br /> Could cover it, from our own eyes, I fear. <br /> <br />Drown it? Why, were the contents of each ocean <br /> Merged into one great sea, too shallow then <br />Would be its waters, to sink this emotion <br /> So deep it could not rise to life again. <br /> <br />Burn it? In all the furnace flames below, <br /> It would not in a thousand years expire. <br />Nay! It would thrive, exult, expand and grow, <br /> For from its very birth it fed on fire. <br /> <br />Starve it? Yes, yes, that is the only way. <br /> Give it no more food, of glance, or word, or sigh, <br />No memories, even, of any bygone day; <br /> No crumbs of vain regrets – so let it die.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-shall-we-do/
