Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONG OF A NIGHT, by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG OF A NIGHT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Last night I lay disgusted, sick at heart
Last Line: My soul and hers are as the same to god.
Subject(s): London; Prostitution; Harlots; Whores; Brothels


LAST night I lay disgusted, sick at heart,
Beside a sodden woman of the street:
Who drowsed, oblivious of. the dreadful mart,
Her outraged body and her blistered feet.
I could not sleep. I lay awake all night,
Questioning again that grey old puzzle, life:
Was this the sordid end of passion's might,
This purchase? Or the purchase of a wife?
And then I thought: No one can love alone,
Love singly in no human heart can dwell:
Ere it is caught, 'tis lost, ere come 'tis gone,
It is a slave, which all men buy and sell:
The wives their bodies barter for a ring,
For one man's care, a home, maternity;
The husbands seek to rid them of the sting
Of sex, or they would happy fathers be.
So all sell love for some low earthly gift;
What matter then, what I have sold it for?
If I should strive from earth my soul to lift,
Soon must it fall back to the earth once more.
All hope is an illusion, sad and vain:
Alike in essence diamond and clod.
Pure love is not, all things on earth have stain:
My soul and hers are as the same to God.





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