Explore "Louise Smith" by Edgar Lee Masters on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Herbert broke our engagement of eight years / When Annabelle returned to the village / From the Seminary, ah me!
If I had let my love for him alone / It might have grown into a beautiful sorrow --
Who knows? -- filling my life with healing fragrance.
But I tortured it, I poisoned it, / I blinded its eyes, and it became hatred --
Deadly ivy instead of clematis.
And my soul fell from its support, / Its tendrils tangled in decay.
Do not let the will play gardener to your soul / Unless you are sure / It is wiser than your soul's nature.