“To Memory” by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

"To Memory" by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge 

 

Strange Power, I know not what thou art,

Murderer or mistress of my heart.

I know I'd rather meet the blow

Of my most unrelenting foe

Than live---as now I live---to be

Slain twenty times a day by thee.

 

Yet, when I would command thee hence,

Thou mockest at the vain pretence,

Murmuring in mine ear a song

Once loved, alas! forgotten long;

And on my brow I feel a kiss

That I would rather die than miss.

xx Atticus

@atticuspoetry

www.atticuspoetry.com