Read "Robert Southey Burke" by Edgar Lee Masters online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I spent my money trying to elect you Mayor / A. D. Blood.
I lavished my admiration upon you, / You were to my mind the almost perfect man.
You devoured my personality, / And the idealism of my youth, / And the strength of a high-souled fealty.
And all my hopes for the world, / And all my beliefs in Truth, / Were smelted up in the blinding heat / Of my devotion to you, / And molded into your image.
And then when I found what you were:
That your soul was small / And your words were false / As your blue-white porcelain teeth, / And your cuffs of celluloid, / I hated the love I had for you, / I hated myself, I hated you / For my wasted soul, and wasted youth.
And I say to all, beware of ideals, / Beware of giving your love away / To any man alive.