BEFORE I trust my fate to thee, <br /> Or place my hand in thine, <br />Before I let thy future give <br /> Color and form to mine, <br />Before I peril all for thee, question thy soul to-night for me. <br /> <br />I break all slighter bonds, nor feel <br /> A shadow of regret: <br />Is there one link within the Past <br /> That holds thy spirit yet? <br />Or is thy faith as clear and free as that which I can pledge to thee? <br /> <br />Does there within thy dimmest dreams <br /> A possible future shine, <br />Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe, <br /> Untouch’d, unshar’d by mine? <br />If so, at any pain or cost, O, tell me before all is lost. <br /> <br />Look deeper still. If thou canst feel, <br /> Within thy inmost soul, <br />That thou hast kept a portion back, <br /> While I have stak’d the whole; <br />Let no false pity spare the blow, but in true mercy tell me so. <br /> <br />Is there within thy heart a need <br /> That mine cannot fulfil? <br />One chord that any other hand <br /> Could better wake or still? <br />Speak now—lest at some future day my whole life wither and decay. <br /> <br />Lives there within thy nature hid <br /> The demon-spirit Change, <br />Shedding a passing glory still <br /> On all things new and strange? <br />It may not be thy fault alone—but shield my heart against thy own. <br /> <br />Couldst thou withdraw thy hand one day <br /> And answer to my claim, <br />That Fate, and that to-day’s mistake— <br /> Not thou—had been to blame? <br />Some soothe their conscience thus; but thou wilt surely warn and save me now. <br /> <br />Nay, answer not,—I dare not hear, <br /> The words would come too late; <br />Yet I would spare thee all remorse, <br /> So, comfort thee, my fate— <br />Whatever on my heart may fall—remember, I would risk it all!<br /><br />Adelaide Anne Procter<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-woman-s-question/
