I Gave You My Work, Gilbert
They published The Emigrantsî.
Some thought it was yours.
This, I gave. I gave.
Our baby, Fanny, I gave. I
Allowed being Mary Imlay. I gave
My name without a marrying.
You asked why I was studying botany.
It came from visiting Eton.
They were
Discussing the need for gentlemen
To know such subjects as
The theory of whales.
So then. You are gone.
You didn?t like the way I walked.
Too determined.î You hated my
Arms swinging, tenseî you said.
Oh I would have bribed you, Gilbert,
With more than a book and a baby
If I could. I would have locked
You away in my heart
Forever. You said I talked too much.
Did you know,
That whales move more by hearing than sight?
Or dare I not say what you do not know.
|
