PENALTY.

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.