| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Give and Take | | By John Gould Fletcher |
| | From “Modern Lamentations”
I GAVE you everything: | |
| My sorrows amused you and my fame. | |
| You gave me everything again: | |
| Care, suffering, shame. | |
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| I gave you everything; | 5 |
| I let you daub my love with filthy lust. | |
| You gave me everything again: | |
| Ashes and bitter dust. | |
| |
| I gave you everything: | |
| Children, toil, gold. | 10 |
| You gave me everything again— | |
| The purse of life is empty that I hold. | |
| |
| I gave you everything: | |
| With jewels of song I made and left you fair. | |
| You gave me everything again: | 15 |
| Old age, despair. | |
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| Now there is nothing more that I can give— | |
| Useless to me now anything but the grave. | |
| I shall pass out to the night, but you can live, | |
| Unless you have flung away the things I gave. | 20 | | | |
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