No rest within a pure and gentle mind... 
Thou sealedst them with many a bare broad word,
And searedst my memory o’er them,—­for I heard
And can forget not...they were ministered
One after one, those curses.  Mix them up 435
Like self-destroying poisons in one cup,
And they will make one blessing which thou ne’er
Didst imprecate for, on me,—­death.
... 
’It were
A cruel punishment for one most cruel,
If such can love, to make that love the fuel 440
Of the mind’s hell; hate, scorn, remorse, despair: 
But ME—­whose heart a stranger’s tear might wear
As water-drops the sandy fountain-stone,
Who loved and pitied all things, and could moan
For woes which others hear not, and could see 445
The absent with the glance of phantasy,
And with the poor and trampled sit and weep,
Following the captive to his dungeon deep;
ME—­who am as a nerve o’er which do creep
The else unfelt oppressions of this earth, 450
And was to thee the flame upon thy hearth,
When all beside was cold—­that thou on me
Shouldst rain these plagues of blistering agony—­
Such curses are from lips once eloquent
With love’s too partial praise—­let none relent 455
Who intend deeds too dreadful for a name
Henceforth, if an example for the same
They seek...for thou on me lookedst so, and so—­
And didst speak thus...and thus...I live to show
How much men bear and die not!
... 
’Thou wilt tell 460
With the grimace of hate, how horrible
It was to meet my love when thine grew less;
Thou wilt admire how I could e’er address
Such features to love’s work...this taunt, though true,
(For indeed Nature nor in form nor hue 465
Bestowed on me her choicest workmanship)
Shall not be thy defence...for since thy lip
Met mine first, years long past, since thine eye kindled
With soft fire under mine, I have not dwindled
Nor changed in mind or body, or in aught 470
But as love changes what it loveth not
After long years and many trials.

’How vain
Are words!  I thought never to speak again,
Not even in secret,—­not to mine own heart—­
But from my lips the unwilling accents start, 475
And from my pen the words flow as I write,
Dazzling my eyes with scalding tears...my sight
Is dim to see that charactered in vain
On this unfeeling leaf which burns the brain
And eats into it...blotting all things fair 480
And wise and good which time had written there.