Nicole's Boast

Nicole raised her chin,

curled her lip,

Tossed her brown locks

and told as follows:

Our ways of life

were too widely apart,

Our manners too different

to permit of our friendship.

You would draw me back

to dreams and shadows,

You would tie me again

to pretense and fancy,

To other worlds,

as empty as ashes,

To fantasy-lands

as fragile as soap-bubbles;

But my eyes are set

on the actual world,

And my limbs depend

on reliable things.

There is more in that

than your magic can give you;

Truth lies only

in the tried and tested.

I have walked on the worlds

we wished to visit,

And stood in the light

of the stars they orbit:

Those points of light

we played at visiting,

Those tiny sparks

we pretended to name,

I have seen as Suns

in skies of their own;

I have walked on the worlds

awash in their light. 

Fact has given

that Fantasy promised,

And Reality given

all its Opposite offered;

By work and toil

I have won my awards,

By regular effort

I have wrought all mine ends,

That you tried to have

by tricks and by-ways,

That ever you sought

by the easy way.

But I know you too well:

you are never content;

I understand you,

who always want more:

’Til you draw out my heart,

you will not dream of rest;

’Til you drink my blood,

you will drag this talk onward.