Explore "Burned Out" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Blow out the light: there is no oil to feed it: / That dim blue light unworthy of the name. / Better to sit with folded hands, I say, / And wait for night to pass, and bring the day, / Than to depend upon that flickering flame.
Take back your vow: there is no love to bind it: / Take back this little shining, golden thing. / Better to walk on bravely all alone, / Than strive to hold up, or retain our own, / By soulless pledge, or fetter of a ring.
When first the lamp was lit, too high you turned it; / The oil was wasted in a blinding blaze. / Your passion was too ardent in the start -- / Set by the lamp: farewell. God gird the heart / Through darkened hours, and lone and loveless ways.