Maiden Fears

by Phoebe Carey

He knows that I love him;
O, how could he tell
What I thought I would keep
In my bosom so well,
By guarding each action,
Each word, I might say!
Yet he knows that I love him, --
O, wo to the day!

To hide it I tried
By each innocent art,
And I thought I had kept it
Down deep in my heart:
Yet vain was my effort,
My pride, through the past,
Since my weakness, my folly,
Have shown it at last.

'T was last night that he learned it,
When down in the grove
He whispered me something
Of hope and of love;
'T was not that I faltered,
I dared not to speak, --
But the blood mounted up
From my heart to my cheek.

Not mine was the fault
That such weakness was shown,
O, he should not have kissed me
By starlight alone!
And I thought, till I saw
How he guessed at my love,
I thought that the shadows
Were deeper above!

Nay, thou canst not console me,
My hopes are undone;
He will say that too lightly
My heart has been won;
And this spot on my forehead
For ever will burn,
For he knows that I love him, --
He will not return!

He will say 'twas unmaidly
Thus to reveal
What I might not, I could not,
That moment conceal;
And the heart he has won
Will cast lightly aside; --
O, I would, ere he knew it,
I would I had died!

O thou who hast never
Been faithess to me,
Crushed, bleeding, and broken
My heart turns to thee:
Friend, counsellor, sister,
Through all things the same,
Let me hide in thy bosom
My blushes of shame!