Good friend for Jesus sake forbear...

Fairer skin I shall not find--
Nor softer heart, nor quicker mind--
Than in that person so intwined
With someone who might so hastily bind
Herself to a stranger in state.

Oh labor on without a thought
Of me, though you may still claim not
To have a feeling in you caught
At the desire for she who bought
Herself out of the debate.

Contentedness I cannot claim
Though you I have in body and name,
For your mind still plays that troubled game
Which you try on to hide in shame,
But still you call "us" fate.

A blind eye I cannot turn,
But neither can I let this burn,
And I know you might not learn
To take that old emotion and spurn
That sickly, hurtful hate.

All the same, with you I'll stay,
Oh boy of men, and I will play
The ignorance game which will pay
The wage for the love look that gives way
To blinding my heart from its gate.

I will sigh to see and hope to hear
The end of all my senseless fear;
That you no longer hold her dear
And never again will shed a tear
On my shoulder, this I await.