Explore "Penalty" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Because of the fullness of what I had / All that I have seems void and vain. / If I had not been happy I were not sad; / Though my salt is savorless, why complain?
From the ripe perfection of what was mine, / All that is mine seems worse than naught; / Yet I know as I sit in the dark and pine, / No cup could be drained which had not been fraught.
From the throb and thrill of a day that was, / The day that now is seems dull with gloom; / Yet I bear its dullness and darkness because / 'Tis but the reaction of glow and bloom.
From the royal feast which of old was spread / I am starved on the diet which now is mine; / Yet I could not turn hungry from water and bread, / If I had not been sated on fruit and wine.