Helen Birch-Bartlett

From “A Line-a-day for Certain Lovers”

THERE were warnings and devious oppositions:

Frankness, simplicity,

And many, many undercurrents.

And all the while I knew that what they feared of me

I had no desire to accomplish.

…………

I took as much—as little—all that I wanted, all.

I alone guessed how much it was;

But they blessed me, sighing in their relief,

For how little.