HE APPEALS AGAINST HIS BOND <br />In my distress Love made me sign a bond, <br />A cruel bond. 'Twas by necessity <br />Wrung from a foolish heart, alas, too fond, <br />Too blindly fond, its error to foresee. <br />And now my soul's estate, in jeopardy, <br />Lies to a pledge it never can redeem. <br />Love's loan was love, one hour of ecstasy, <br />His penalty eternal loss of him. <br />--See, I am penniless, the forfeit paid, <br />And go a beggar forth from thy dear sight, <br />My pound of more than flesh too strictly weighed <br />And cut too near the heart. Fair Israelite, <br />Thy plea was just. Thy right has been confessed. <br />And yet a work of mercy were twice blessed.<br /><br />Wilfrid Scawen Blunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-love-sonnets-of-proteus-part-iii-gods-and-false-gods-lxiv/
