I asked to be released, I did not know

’Twas hate, not love, that would not let me go.

Vengeance had burned your image on my mind,

I gazed and gazed until my eyes were blind.

Now—neither pride nor love has set me free,

But happy chance—in wonderful degree.

Shackled by memory, a prey to fear,

Once you were mine by the black load I bore,

But now, released, I lose you—O my Dear,

Ever, irrevocably mine no more!