A DAUGHTER OF EVE

A DAUGHTER OF EVE

A fool I was to sleep at noon,

     And wake when night is chilly

Beneath the comfortless cold moon;

A fool to pluck my rose too soon,

     A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;

     Faded and all-forsaken,

I weep as I have never wept:

Oh it was summer when I slept,

     It’s winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future Spring

     And sun-warmed sweet to-morrow: —

Stripped bare of hope and everything,

No more to laugh, no more to sing,

     I sit alone with sorrow.