Secrets, you said, would hold us two apart
You'd have me know of you your least transgression
And so the intimate places of your heart
Kneeling, you bared to me, as in confession
Softly you told of loves that went before
Of clinging arms, of kisses gladly given
Luxuriously clean of heart once more
You rose up, then, and stood before me, shriven
When this, my day of happiness, is through
And love, that bloomed so fair, turns brown and brittle
There is a thing that I shall ask of you
I, who have given so much, and asked so little
Some day, when there's another in my stead
Again you'll feel the need of absolution
And you will go to her, and bow your head
And offer her your past, as contribution
When with your list of loves you overcome her
For Heaven's sake, keep this one secret from her!