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.