“So Many a Deed of Wrong for Right is Meant” [poem by Louisa Lawson]

[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]

“So Many a Deed of Wrong for Right is Meant.”

We will part now for ever, you and I,
With a frozen smile and a faint good-bye;
And a hand on the poisoned barb hard pressed
To bury it deep in each tortured breast.
We will part just here while our new love dies,
And we’ll turn deaf ears to its pleading cries;
For we each could save it, but neither will,
As we stoop to injure and strike to kill.
And the eyes that photo our faces wild
Will haunt us forever. Poor murdered child!
Oh, how the beautiful babe did grow,
Suckled in sorrow and cradled in woe!
Pride was the menace which shadowed its birth,
The beautiful cherub too bright for earth.
For better it were that our souls had lied
Than bring into being a love that died,
But tho’ you are taking all else away
There is one rare jewel must say you nay —
It is mine, all mine; it is mem’ry’s prize.
’Tis the clasp and the kiss of love’s first surprise.
I will live it over while life shall last,
And in its soft rapture shall death be passed;
With your lips on mine in a dream I’ll be,
And pass in your arms to Eternity.

Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], pp. 51-52

Editor’s notes:
mem’ry = (vernacular) memory

nay = an archaic form of “no”; however, it is still sometimes used regarding voting (e.g. to vote yea or nay), in formal circumstances, in some dialects (e.g. in the north of England), and as a substitute for “no” when some emphasis is desired

’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”

tho’ = (vernacular) though

[Editor: Changed “that died” to “that died,” (comma added).]