[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]
Woman’s Love.
I cared not what thy failings were,
Thy faults I would not see;
I only knew I loved thee well
And thought thee true to me.
I shunned amid life’s busy crowd
Those who would thee defame;
For oh, it pained a trusting heart
To hear men idly blame!
I would not heed when meddling friends
Would whisper aught of thee;
I thought not one so seeming true
Could e’er a traitor be.
And then they knew not of thy tone
Of love and fond caress
That would my soul responsive move
With its great tenderness.
Nor how my hungry, aching heart
Craved the kind word or smile
That did my thoughts, despondent grown,
From my sad life beguile.
They knew not, and nor mortal shall,
All thou hast been to me;
But I forgive thee all because
Thou once wert true to me.
Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], pp. 59-60
Editor’s notes:
aught = anything; anything at all, anything whatsoever
e’er = (vernacular) an archaic contraction of “ever”
hast = (archaic) have
thee = (archaic) you
thou = (archaic) you
thy = (archaic) your
wert = (archaic) were (commonly appears as “thou wert”, i.e. “you were”); the second person singular of “were”, used as the subjunctive imperfect tense of “be”
[Editor: Changed “failings were” to “failings were,” (added comma).]
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