Where were you last night? I watched at the gate; <br />I went down early, I stayed down late. <br />Were you snug at home, I should like to know, <br />Or were you in the coppice wheedling Kate? <br /> <br />She's a fine girl, with a fine clear skin; <br />Easy to woo, perhaps not hard to win. <br />Speak up like a man and tell me the truth: <br />I'm not one to grow downhearted and thin. <br /> <br />If you love her best speak up like a man; <br />It's not I will stand in the light of your plan: <br />Some girls might cry and scold you a bit, <br />And say they couldn't bear it; but I can. <br /> <br />Love was pleasant enough, and the days went fast; <br />Pleasant while it lasted, but it needn't last; <br />Awhile on the wax and awhile on the wane, <br />Now dropped away into the past. <br /> <br />Was it pleasant to you? To me it was; <br />Now clean gone as an image from glass, <br />As a goodly rainbow that fades away, <br />As dew that steams upward from the grass, <br /> <br />As the first spring day, or the last summer day, <br />As the sunset flush that leaves heaven grey, <br />As a flame burnt out for lack of oil, <br />Which no pains relight or ever may. <br /> <br />Good luck to Kate and good luck to you: <br />I guess she'll be kind when you come to woo. <br />I wish her a pretty face that will last, <br />I wish her a husband steady and true. <br /> <br />Hate you? not I, my very good friend; <br />All things begin and all have an end. <br />But let broken be broken; I put no faith <br />In quacks who set up to patch and mend. <br /> <br />Just my love and one word to Kate: <br />Not to let time slip if she means to mate;— <br />For even such a thing has been known <br />As to miss the chance while we weigh and wait.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/last-night-64/
