Choice
Allegiance is assigned
Forever when the mind
Chooses and stamps the will.
Thus, I must love you still
Through good and ill.
But though we cannot part
We may retract the heart
And build such privacies
As self-regard agrees
Conduce to ease.
So manners will repair
The ravage of despair
Which generous love invites,
Preferring quiet nights
To vain delights.
Copyright Credit: J. V. Cunningham, “Choice” from The Exclusions of a Rhyme: Poems and Epigrams. Copyright © 1960 by J. V. Cunningham. Reprinted with the permission of Ohio University Press/Swallow Press, Athens, Ohio.
Source: The Exclusions of a Rhyme: Poems and Epigrams (Alan Swallow Press, 1960)