| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Make No Vows | | By Grace Fallow Norton |
| | | I MADE a vow once, one only. | |
| I was young and I was lonely. | |
| When I grew strong I said: “This vow | |
| Is too narrow for me now. | |
| Who am I to be bound by old oaths? | 5 |
| I will change them as I change my clothes!” | |
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| But that ancient outworn vow | |
| Was like fetters upon me now. | |
| It was hard to break, hard to break; | |
| Hard to shake from me, hard to shake. | 10 |
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| I broke it by day, but it closed upon me at night. | |
| He is not free who is free only in the sun-light. | |
| He is not free who bears fetters in his dreams, | |
| Nor he who laughs only by his dream’s hid streams. | |
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| Oh, it costs much bright coin of strength to live! | 15 |
| Watch then, where all your strength you give! | |
| For I, who would be so wild and wondrous now, | |
| Must give, give, to break a burdening bitter vow. | | | | |
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